Comments by "XSportSeeker" (@XSpImmaLion) on "Could Space-Based Solar Save The World? | Answers With Joe" video.

  1. Hmm... I think solar panels in space is jumping the gun at this point in time. It could happen in the future, but other methods are preferrable. The biggest problem with it is, like Joe said, conversion. Every conversion with current technology translates to major losses, which is already the biggest problem in all green energy solutions. We should at the very least wait for solar panels to reach their theoretical efficiency limit before putting them up in space. Of course, tests and trials are fine, so perhaps the right time to further research at a reasonable pace is... right now. Question is if we're getting there first, or we're getting highly efficient, cheap and non-toxic battery technologies first. The other problem I see with solar panels in space is about monopolization of energy. Unfortunately, I think the only route for survival of humanity in the future is for the power that is currently highly concentrated in the hands of few to be spread out and people take back individual action and responsibility. We've gone past the point of sustainability in this aspect. This whole problem all stems from us, unfortunately. You know what another ideal scenario would be? A global scale power solution. Much like the Internet, we should have a worldwide network of power transmission. That way, power distribution could be equalized through the day/night cycle. But this again requires a degree of collectiveness, cooperation and empathy that humanity currently does not have. So, it's not gonna happen anytime soon... too much politics, too much infrastructure needed, too much greed involved. And currently, international relations are a mess. The inverse is probably gonna happen first - divide to conquer. Throngs of people with solar panels in their homes connecting to each other forming independent grids that will slowly become independent from big energy corporations... in a planet ravaged by extreme weather events. Climate change will majorly force us to live and survive by ourselves in the coming ears. I don't mean like hermits or anything like that, but entire cities could become isolated because of constant barrages of extreme weather events we're not quite prepared to take. Lots of countries will have to take huge influxes of climate change refugees. If we don't completely turn this into self destructive wars, genocide and whatnot, we'll have to come up with ways of locally supplementing power requirements in some way or another. It also seems we can't think long term much, so the type of green energy most at reach and becoming cheaper and more easily accessible right now are solar panels. In the sense that individuals can take action by themselves.
    1