I was watching the Yankees, hoping they would lose, and there was an ad for Touchstone Energy Coop. I had to check out their web site.. They are an umbrella organization for all energy cooperatives. And in that role, they have a research arm. They recently had a 5 day seminar on New And Emerging Technology in February. I am sorry I missed it.
I am especially bummed because they do not have recorded sessions on their web site. They have the PowerPoint slides, but the best presenters do not just read their slides, they use the slides as a jumping off point for more detailed discussion.
I looked at the NASA presentations under the group heading of “Renewable Energy – If You Build it, Will they Come?”
What I found out was that Photovoltaic Cells have a long NASA history going back to the 1960s. There are two main reasons why NASA looks at solar power.
1. There is a lot of solar power in space and no clouds. Collecting that power is easier than having a power cord from earth go up there. (I wonder how heavy that cord would be?)
2. Current electricity expenditures on the ground are eating into their budget. With the NASA budget being kept level, energy use eats up more and more of their budget. And as engineers, they have the ability to solve that problem. And the fact that it helps with their main mission makes it easier to justify.
I will be looking at other presentations and seeing if I can get even more information on alternative energy, better homebuilding techniques, and energy management.
I never really thought too much about solar power and space, but it makes sense that they should be using power from out in space. It would be really cool if they had a relay station out in space that sent the US power.