Comment Re:Big Deal (Score 1) 310
As a response to the difficulty of regulating and selling power:
There would still have to be a wired infrastructure at some level. Think of all of the power relay stations being replaced with big towers to receive power. This would eliminate the high-tensile powerlines and all the electrical resistance that they produce. It would be difficult for someone to setup a tower on their property as the costs would be high and there would likely be regulations similar to FCC regulations that would prohibit it.
The power could be metered at the relay stations and per-household. The losses would then be limited to very remote locations where a tower could be constructed without many people knowing. Like any other electromagnitic field though, the power 'grid' produced around the earth could be monitored with well calibrated and sophisticated induction coils. Therefore allowing the 'proper' authorities to locate rogue towers that use non-trivial amounts of energy.
There would be meters at the power plants to determine their output and they would receive a portion of the money collected from the consumers based on the percentage of the overall power distributed. This would greatly encourage the production of 'clean' power like hydroelectric power because each company would be receiving the same rate for their power as any other company. Because the power could be generated anywhere and efficiently transmitted anywhere else it would also be easier to generate power cleanly.
There would still have to be a wired infrastructure at some level. Think of all of the power relay stations being replaced with big towers to receive power. This would eliminate the high-tensile powerlines and all the electrical resistance that they produce. It would be difficult for someone to setup a tower on their property as the costs would be high and there would likely be regulations similar to FCC regulations that would prohibit it.
The power could be metered at the relay stations and per-household. The losses would then be limited to very remote locations where a tower could be constructed without many people knowing. Like any other electromagnitic field though, the power 'grid' produced around the earth could be monitored with well calibrated and sophisticated induction coils. Therefore allowing the 'proper' authorities to locate rogue towers that use non-trivial amounts of energy.
There would be meters at the power plants to determine their output and they would receive a portion of the money collected from the consumers based on the percentage of the overall power distributed. This would greatly encourage the production of 'clean' power like hydroelectric power because each company would be receiving the same rate for their power as any other company. Because the power could be generated anywhere and efficiently transmitted anywhere else it would also be easier to generate power cleanly.
