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Comment by heavyset_go | Hacker News Reader

You could reflect light from the sun to places on Earth that are experiencing night.

Exactly, it's always sunny in space.

Also, a big part of the inefficiency in conventional power collection (in the case of solar) is transmission losses in the power lines. This converts light directly into microwave energy that can then be transmitted without power lines. That's a game hanger, just like wifi is to ethernet

Given how stodgy and variable WiFi tends to be, I'll stick with the Neanderthal way of copper lines.

Wifi is a marvel of modern technology. It's neither stodgy or variable. Maybe upgrade your stuff?

And it's becoming an obsolete idea. USB-C, 12VHPWR(the new power spec for NVIDIA gpus), and Tesla charging ports have communication protocols built-in to them to control power flow. More future power connectors are going to move away from the passive AC or DC flows we have now to dynamic connections.

The first generation of space power delivery is probably going to be passive as well, maybe a low power echo signal for target acquisition, but not complicated protocols to negotiate power or data flows.

High voltage power lines have losses of 0.5% to 1% per 100 miles. Beaming power from space microwaves would have a total loss of 40-60%.

And that doesn't include the cost (both money and carbon) of launching all the collection and transmission equipment into space in the first place.

If we're talking military logistics, that may well still win out on efficiency over current methods. Even if it doesn't, it still has enough potential advantages to be game-changing.

Is efficiency that important? It's not like were delivering the photons to the solar panels like we use trains to deliver coal to power stations.

High voltage power lines also cost $800k-$2mil per mile just to construct.

https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2019/10/11/....

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