0191-9067/80/030245-02$02.(XVO Copyright c 1980 SUNSAT Energy Council SOLAR POWER SATELLITES — WHAT, HOW, AND WHEN?* Introductory Remarks PETER E. GLASER President SUNSAT Energy Council It may be of historic interest to note that at the time the SPS concept was conceived, solar energy was considered an exotic energy source of little concern to a nation endowed with what appeared to be infinite energy resources. This perception was further strengthened by the hopes of the 1960s that nuclear power could be relied upon to meet foreseeable future needs and the belief that environmental concerns and the implications of the limits to growth philosophy were only of esoteric interest. We rediscovered solar energy as a result of the dramatic events of October, 1973, and impatiently await its wide use. This may take longer and cost more before our optimistic expectations are realized. We now recognize that no one energy source will meet all future energy demands, that the search for new sources of nonrenewable fuels can only put off the day of their ultimate exhaustion, and that there are major uncertainties in achieving the potential of known energy technologies. We believed that energy resources were infinite even in a finite world. In reality, we were using finite energy resources in a world that could not continue to absorb insults to the environment, and where expectations of an ever-increasing standard of living ignored the long-term effects of burgeoning populations which would claim the finite global resources at an exponential rate. The SPS concept was proposed not as a panacea to solve increasingly complex energy supply, environmental and societal problems, but to open a new path so that we can influence the future by our own actions. The historic “one small step for a man” set the stage, for what still is, the nearly imperceptible movement of humanity beyond the Earth’s surface. The SPS could be one of the significant steps to let us utilize the immense resources within the solar system and beyond, in the quest to expand our evolutionary niche. The SPS is one of the few options which could meet the demands for the continuous supply of electrical power with inexhaustible energy sources. It has the potential to be of global benefit, to conserve scarce resources, be economically competitive with alternative power-generation methods, environmentally benign, and acceptable to the nations of the world. During the past decade, the SPS concept has been subjected to critical evaluations with positive results. It is now receiving serious consideration not only in the United States, but in Canada, Europe, Japan, and the Soviet Union. In spite of concerted *lntroductory remarks presented at the SUNSAT Energy Council Meeting, Los Angeles, February 28, 1980.
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