The environmental assessments carried out so far have not identified environmental constraints which would preclude development of the SPS. Continuing investigations are necessary to reduce the uncertainty of any environmental risks associated with the SPS in view of its potential to be a power-generation method of global benefit. Societal Issues Events have shown that controversies can arise over the utilization of existing energy technologies even when they operate within well-established performance and impact limits. In approaching the development of the SPS, the public response to its technology can be outlined only after the benefits and impacts of its performance are better defined. The views and opinions expressed by those in support of or in opposition to the SPS concept represent widely different philosophies and ideological beliefs. The contributions of distributed and centralized technologies, accountability of industry and government, participatory democracy, the price and availability of nonrenewable fuels, the environmental and health impacts of alternative energy technologies, and the degree of international cooperation will influence the future course of development of the SPS. The SPS appears to involve technologies which are at opposite ends of the scale of distributed terrestrial solar technologies. But the differentiation of solar technologies according to the scales of their conversion and distribution systems introduces artificial barriers which may hinder rather than advance the development of the most appropriate solar technologies to meet end-use requirements. Rural technology and agricultural development is increasingly seen as being able to take a developing country, such as India, only to a certain point. Rural-oriented technologies can only supplement — not supplant — capital-intensive automation- oriented technology required for the production of transportation and communication systems and commodity materials such as chemicals, cement, steel, and glass. For example, China, which relied almost entirely on rural technologies and industries, is now making strenuous efforts to introduce the “four modernizations” because it found that rural technology can play only a peripheral part in national development. Whether energy conversion and distribution should be centralized or dispersed will be determined by the energy intensiveness of the end use and a broad range of other factors. There is no obvious difference in the potential benefits of distributed and centralized solar technologies provided that economic, environmental, and societal criteria are met. Most likely, strong central planning will be required for both distributed and centralized solar technology applications to succeed. Perceptions of these technologies by individuals, communities, regions, and countries will differ at various stages of technology development. Political or ideological preconceptions regarding the most appropriate solar technologies or alternative value systems for applications in industrialized or developing countries may compromise the application of the most effective solar technologies to meet specific end uses. Assuming that there will always be energy-intensive regions where the available solar insolation is less than the energy required for specific end uses, there will be continued requirements for utility-provided electrical power. The SPS integrates many different generic technologies, ranging from solar cells to electric propulsion, which are being developed to meet a wide variety of terrestrial
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