A firm from Japan wants to build a giant solar belt around the moon’s equator to help solve the countries – and ultimately the planets – energy problems.
The Tokyo based Shimizu Corp. want to lay a belt of solar panels 250 miles wide around the entire moon which will relay a constant supply of energy back to receiving stations based on Earth. Ambitious?
The ‘Luna Ring’ would be capable of sending approx. 13,000 terawatts of power back to Earth. To put this into perspective, for 2011, the United States of America used around 4,100 terawatts.
“A shift from economical use of limited resources to the unlimited use of clean energy is the ultimate dream of mankind,” Shimizu says in the proposal on its web site. “The Luna Ring … translates this dream into reality through ingenious ideas coupled with advanced space technologies.”
Prior to March 2011, before the devastating earthquake and tsunami that battered the Fukushima Nuclear Plant, Japan had relied mostly on nuclear power as its source. As the government now struggles to keep the reactors under control, public opposition to atomic energy has become more widespread.
Reluctant to talk numbers when asked about costs, Shimizu believes that with adequate funding, construction could get underway by 2035.
Check out the entire article here at The Telegraph.
