X PRIZE Crazy Green Idea-Global Solar Energy Grid

[russ25052]

if your going to go through all this grid stuff and still charge people. the power companies to could just build satalites that mirror the sun around the earth and beam it down. no big grid needed and no dealiong with other countries. would suck in war your enemy could turn lights out on you and you on them. then what?

[DonQuixotedeKaw]

The heat loss alone, both initially, and from frequency degradation, makes this concept a no-go, as any grid.

On site, roof top home and business lighting however, need this idea to be developed, urgently.

[kelltiozim]

I have doubts that we can create such a system. If we had that technology, we could zap ourselves and any matter across the oceans, or even across the galaxy. But still a grid of solar is a terrific idea, and it should definately be looked into seriously. Of course the solar would have to be converted to AC current to travel far.

[noreast77]

Hey nice work... great thinking at the very least- if we all had solar and were wired together we wouldn't need power companies, we'd power ourselves and each other. Any electrical engineers know if we transmit power in this way? Damn my third rate education!!

[solargrid]

Thanks noeast! when the initial idea came to my mind, the first thing I thought about was that it could evolve much like current file sharing network evolved, until very smart sharing protocols, such as Bittorrent.

There is so much knowledge and experience around these type of network protocols and standard, that we could utilize for the solar grid-load balancing, high availability, network optimization.

[solardeathraysun]

NICE idea, but will not work. If you could digitize energy packets, it would make more sense to send 1 packet and have a computer duplicate it 1billion times. Also, If you had a photon only device (solar panel) it would make more senses to run it from local sunlight. Fiber optic streams are VERY WEAK. You would need a cable the size of a tunnel to transfer 500 watts across the sea.

Fiberoptic modems use the photo as a signal, not energy. If you unplug power from #2, you have nothing. Good thing

[solargrid]

You would capture solar energy locally,and any excess energy would be uploaded to the grid.

It's true that the greatest issue here is the tiny amount of energy current optical fibers can transfer. But these fibers were designed to transfer 0 & 1, not energy. A new breed of optical fibers would have to be developed, no doubt. There are already fibers that are free from some of the physical limitations on energy transfer that current fibers have.

But for 10M$ prize and 3-5 years,it can happen.

[Charles2337]

That's so strange. Awesome.

[alancolahan]

This is an awesome idea, can it be done and will it be done i love it amazing

[solargrid]

I believe it can be done,sure. The biggest challenge is that current fiber optical networks are not designed to transfer large amounts of energy. You will need a new breed of fiber optical cables, and new 'energy' communication hardware. But with money going into research, and Economy Of Scale principle, I am sure this thing can become commercial within the next 5-10 years. It's not going to happen in one or two years, but it more of an ongoing evolution - from an electric to an 'optical' world.

[dennisnoob]

Dude that's brilliant! If this is introduced to the world we're not going to die after all!

[EagleEyeKiller]

@dennisnoob except u cant send energy across the internet lmao this guy doesn't make sense. if they could they would copy the poton and make billions before sending it.

[deadlyvicar]

this is the x prize stuff, i wish you both the best of luck Beesdaddy n solargrid......

hope there will be some kind of safeguard on the internet or maybe run it on a dedicated new internet othewise it could be comprimised by hackers or viruses and pose a major problem for the world by grinding it to a halt

[solargrid]

thank you for that, deadlyvicar. That's a whole new dimension of the solar grid - Energy Security. I am sure we learned a lot from building the internet, that we can implement building this thing.

[solargrid]

it will work exactly like electricity works today-you would charge your mobile phone or laptop by plugging it into the solar grid. Same as your electric car, which will actually be a solar battery car-just plug it into the 'internet' (the solar grid), charge your battery with solar energy, transfered at the speed of light, from the Arizona desert, from Hawaii,Australia or Spain.

Again, I think if we got everything working on electrcity, I'm sure we can create things that work on photons.

[beesdaddy]

The battle Of the solar Videos!

Dude i love your idea even though it is in direct competition with mine.

May the best idea win! and may the other idea also be picked up by some venture capital groups that sumbles upon our videos and makes bank off of your ideas or mine.

[solargrid]

I think our ideas sort of compliment each other, as the solar grid should achieve most of your goals-high efficiency, affordable to anyone. I think the most significant issue with P.V. is the energy conversions from solar to electrical, which causes massive energy losses. Thermo-Solar provides higher efficiency, but you need huge solar farms to be effective. The solar grid can achieve very high efficiency, because there are no energy transformations.

May the solar force be with you, my friend!

[beesdaddy]

I agree with you that that kind of grid would be great and very efficient. i also think my idea can work along side yours as means to power mobile devises and electric motors.

unless there is some way to use your idea.

to be honest i dont really get how digitized light can power things other than lightbulbs.

i know its because of the 2 min restriction so that is not meant as an insult.

[solargrid]

We digitize the energy beam to be able to transfer it from point A to point B, integrating the solar grid smoothly into the internet, using the same protocols and standards.

Fluorescent lamps already use light (emitted by Mercury) to produce light. Lightning accounts for 25% of electricity consumption in the U.S.

Electricity is accessible and cheap, so we have electrical devices T.V., computers. When photon energy will be accessible and cheap, devices will be re-engineered to run on photons.

[beesdaddy]

yeah i got that but can it power big things that take real electricity like cars trains and mobile things that are not connected to the grid.

[sk8erninja137]

solar panels are really really expensive.

[solargrid]

solar panels are expansive, but that's because they are made to convert solar energy to electrical energy, which is both expensive and inefficient. The 'panels' in my idea are made out of glass and will be very cheap. They will not perform any energy transformation.

The expansive and most challenging part of the solar grid is the fiber optical network that has to be built - current optical networks support transfer of very little energy, and aren't all-optical, but contain electrical components.