Could solar panels on the moon solve the world’s energy crisis?
The world is facing an energy crisis. Solarcentury’s Jeremy Leggett predicts that in just a couple of years, we’ll see an energy shock on the same scale as the great financial crash of a few years ago. A recent UN report claims 1.3 billion people are living without electricity, with two-thirds of them concentrated in the same 10 countries. Add rising world temperatures, the depletion of oil, and the rise of shale gas, and we’ve got a major crisis on our hands. According to Leggett, even the US military sees the energy problem as a serious security issue.
So what’s to be done? One Japanese company has come up with a novel solution, and it involves turning the moon into a gigantic solar power plant.
It plans to do this by building a belt of solar cells around the equator of the moon. The solar cells would capture the sun’s rays 24 hours a days, seven days a week, and transmit them back to Earth. This would provide a constant supply of solar energy with which we could power anything we’d usually need electricity for.
Shimizu Corporation
It sounds like the kind of thing a James Bond villain would do. But if Shimizu Corporation Group can pull it off, the Luna Ring could be the start of a whole new energy infrastructure, one that’s clean, sustainable and free from the sky-high prices energy companies have started charging.
“In 2030, it’s predicted the global population will consume the equivalent of 17 gigatons of oil,” says Tetsuji Yoshida, president and CEO of Shimizu Corporation Group. “We envisage that this Luna Ring could generate an equivalent amount of energy. And when all that energy reaches Earth, there’ll be no need to produce energy from coal, oil or biomass.
“All the energy we need could be imported from the moon, so on the Earth, CO2 wouldn’t increase, nor would any harmful gases be generated.”
Obviously it would be a major operation. It’s estimated the Luna Ring would have to be 6,800 miles long to stretch all the way around the moon’s equator. To catch enough of the sun’s rays, the belt would have to be 250 miles wide.
Shimizu Corporation
Robots would play a huge part in the construction. According to Shimizu, robots would perform tasks like levelling the ground, and carrying out excavations. They would be operated around-the-clock from Earth, but also a team of astronauts would work alongside them on the moon. Machines and equipment from Earth would be assembled in spacecraft en route.
Shimizu would also take advantage of the resources at hand. It says lunar soil can be used to make ceramics, glass, concrete and solar cells. All of which would lessen the load significantly when traipsing to the moon and back.
As well as the solar cells, the belt itself would be made up of electric power cables to transfer power to the transmission facilities, and microwave power transmission antennas. These 12-mile diameter antennas would help transmit the power back to Earth. There would also be a road running along the middle of the belt, to transport the materials needed for its construction.
Rex Features
The Luna Ring would transmit energy back to Earth in two ways: as microwaves and as laser light. The microwaves would be sent back from the aforementioned power transmission antennas, and the lasers by the laser power transmission facilities. Both of these would be received by their respective technologies back on Earth.
The microwaves would be received by ‘rectennas’ – rectifying antennas that transform microwave energy into electricity by using semiconductors and inverters. This electricity would then be piped straight into the grid, to be used for anything you need power for.
The laser light, meanwhile, would be received by installations in oceans and deserts around the Earth’s equator, where there’s hardly ever any cloud to block it. (Shimizu estimates that 98% of this laser light would make it through on a clear day.) The laser light would be converted to electricity using photo-electric cells.
The installations in the ocean would make clean energy in another way, too. They would desalinate sea water and use it to make hydrogen, which would power fuel cells.
Currently, solar energy is limited by the weather conditions – you need a lot of sun to get a decent amount of power. But the Luna Ring is more effective because it doesn’t vary day to day.
AP Images
It’s an ambitious project, undoubtedly. But according to Shimizu’s sums, it could provide enough power not just for Japan, but for most of the rest of the world, too. Shimizu reckons the Luna Ring could continuously provide 13,000 terawatts of power back to Earth. In contrast, during the whole of 2011, the US only used 4,100 terawatts.
Japan is at a crossroads when it comes to its energy use. Until the Fukushima disaster in March 2011, it relied heavily on nuclear power. But now, it has shut down all its nuclear plants. It’ll most probably have to reopen them in the short term, but it’s obviously keen to find other forms of energy, especially ones that present low risks.
“Right now, environmental problems have a very high priority,” says Yoshida. “We believe the role of Shimizu Construction isn’t just to chip away at environmental problems; rather, our role is to improve the quality of life and achieve a balanced society.”
Rex Features
There’s a long way to go before it’s made a reality – the logistics alone are baffling to contemplate. Then there’s the issue of who’s allowed to build on the moon? Who decides what’s allowed and what’s not? Shimizu also hasn’t said how much the project will cost. But don’t expect it to be cheap. Laying down 6,800 miles of solar cells is going to put a dent in anyone’s budget.
Shimizu is hoping to start the construction phase in 2035. It’s a long way off – on its website, the company describes it as its “dream” – but if it happens, we could create a sustainable future for the whole world, free of the energy worries and limitations we’re currently facing.
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