Comment Long Before Sim City (Score 2) 244
The Arthur D. Little (consulting) Company first championed this idea back in the 1970s, long before Sim City.
Probably the best place to prototype microwave power transmision would be at the Straight of Belle Ilse, in Canada, between the Island of Newfoundland and Labrador. Vast quantities of hydro-electric power are going undeveloped in Labrador because there is no way to transfer it across the 20 miles of the Straight. Undersea cables won't work because icebergs drag across the bottom of the Straight in winter. Tunneling is prohibitavely expensive due to the hard rock.
The biggest problem, however, relates to concentrating the power, from whatever source, just before creating the microwave beam. You have lots of megawatts all going through a single point. Any resistance at all -- and you quickly heat your concentrator and vaporize it.
Probably the best place to prototype microwave power transmision would be at the Straight of Belle Ilse, in Canada, between the Island of Newfoundland and Labrador. Vast quantities of hydro-electric power are going undeveloped in Labrador because there is no way to transfer it across the 20 miles of the Straight. Undersea cables won't work because icebergs drag across the bottom of the Straight in winter. Tunneling is prohibitavely expensive due to the hard rock.
The biggest problem, however, relates to concentrating the power, from whatever source, just before creating the microwave beam. You have lots of megawatts all going through a single point. Any resistance at all -- and you quickly heat your concentrator and vaporize it.
