Having driven up to the moors above Buxton last week in the hope of being able to view the Aurora (the hemispheric power was forecast to be 128GW), unfortunately by the time I got there it was too misty to see anything. It did however, get me thinking as to whether we would ever be in a position to develop the technology and the cost being economically viable to harvest solar flares? How likely is this in the future, is it a pipe dream or something that could be a realistic possiblity and if so how far off do you think its likely to be?
I think what is more important is finding a way to make our energy conversion more efficient, currently it is dreadful around 30-40%, maybe 55% if the waste products i.e. heat can be utilised i.e. CHP etc.
Think about it, the average human can play a game of squash on a slice of Marmite on toast, now that is energy conversion efficiency.
If we can get to within 15% of that efficiency our energy worries would almost vanish.
I think what is more important is finding a way to make our energy conversion more efficient, currently it is dreadful around 30-40%, maybe 55% if the waste products i.e. heat can be utilised i.e. CHP etc.
Think about it, the average human can play a game of squash on a slice of Marmite on toast, now that is energy conversion efficiency.
If we can get to within 15% of that efficiency our energy worries would almost vanish.
