Hurricane-Killing, Space-Based Power Plant

Hurricanes/Cyclones/Typhoons (all the same thing, just different oceans and hemispheres) are an important way to release heat energy built up in the ocean. That's why they happen at the end of summer.

I can't see how introducing more heat into the system from a giant frickin' space "laser beam" could work out well in any way.

When will people learn?!? Look, two things you need to know about Hurricanes:

1. Hurricane's are stronger than you can imagine! Imagine the biggest force you can? Was it a nuclear bomb? Funny, because a Category 5 Hurricane is equivalent to setting off one 10-megaton Nuke every 20 minutes! (See subject C5c -- http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/TCFAQ_C.txt)

2. Hurricanes, for all the destruction they can cause, are a "Good Thing". Just like occasional burns in forests are a natural way of clearing out brush, and preventing them only leads to bigger fires, hurricanes redistribute heat energy from the equator to the poles, and preventing them would only lead to bigger hurricanes!

Notice NOAA's statement... When we have enough energy to fly at nearly the speed of light, we might be able to control hurricanes.

Given that the NOAA people are probably smart, they probably realize how difficult this is.