I wish this was the first time I'd heard the idea, I'd be excited myself. All that sun-power, currently unused! I wonder why it goes unused? I've had to assume that, as you put it, those cleverer than I, who calculate affordability and practicality, decided it doesn't add up.
I'm in! I'm re-enthused. There can be nothing more persuasive than seeing Scaramanga's golden gun, brought to life. Was there by any happy chance, a control-lever which Britt Ekland's bikini-clad backside could inadvertently press?
PS., did you mean 2" thick steel plate, or 2'? Now the latter, I want to see! Perfect for cutting battletanks in half.
Interesting. Especially if the land required to situate the mirrors, is cheap to acquire. What a pity it takes market forces and forecasts, to energise a move towards clean sustainable power. As soon as there's a cloudy period, they'll scurry back to burning something.
In fact, I suppose I should be a huge wind-farm fan, too. Even if the turbines don't yet begin to cover our requirements, they're significant movement in the right direction...Don't mistake me for a negativist, Chrusty; I'm 100% in favour of schemes such as this, even without Britt Ekland...
...it's just that my own enthusiasm is often damped by the seemingly inert attitude of those who could finance something new, or who, at government level, could encourage its exploration. Presumably they have oil or coal-selling conventionalists to keep happy...
...so we have to credit the outfits which do follow their instincts and pursue clever/ground-breaking solutions. I've only grown cynical because there's usually so little positive reception given, to innovations whose adoption might undermine existing interests.
Not a good excuse.
...the trouble is that once an idea undergoes boring stuff like economic feasibility projections, I lose interest. I was shocked to learn that the idea of capturing tidal power in the Bristol Channel, was dropped at a very early stage...
...there might be excellent reasons why it doesn't make sense to benefit from millions of tonnes of water pouring through a narrow place, twice/four times daily, but the idea was exciting, so its dismissal was exasperating, however well justified.
Stuff that looks like an obvious solution, seems generally to leave the majority completely underwhelmed. I'm in danger of likewise becoming just as sleepily, middle-agedly conceited with life as I've always known it.
I'm no scientist either, but those deserts do perform a useful function in planetary weather patterns and removing vast quantities of energy from them could have far greater problems than we can imagine right now. I'm not saying we shouldn't do it, just that someone smarter than I needs to do some climate modelling first.
I actually think the answer to all our energy problems is local generation at the point of usage. That's the best way we can lower our impact on the environment as a whole. It would also drive people to lower their usage since they would have to literally have the power plant in their back yard. NIMBYs would then be perfectly entitled to opt out and return to nature
