JerryMouse wrote:

Jeff Wisnia wrote:


Likewise those who think the country can be run by sunbeams. There's
only 700 watts/sq meter of sunlight falling on the surface of the
earth. At the equator. At noon. With no clouds. The ONLY way to
increase that number is to move the orbit of the earth closer to the
sun.

Or you could employ a really BIG lens or mirror. G


10 sq meters of a mirror or 10 sq meters of photovolactic cells. Same area.

You missed my point...A lens or curved mirror in space which was a few
times larger in diameter than the earth would be ANOTHER way to
"increase that number".....

It was a joke, son....ergo the G I added.

Jeff



If you do all the computations, you'll find that a solar collector farm the
size of the Los Angeles basin (1200 sq miles) would be sufficient to power
California. All the people remaining in Los Angeles would, unfortunately, be
in the dark.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.




--
Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"As long as there are final exams, there will be prayer in public
schools"