I just today received an email letter from a Dr. H.F. Matare, responding
to one of my published letters promoting space-based solar power.
Matare apparently published a book "Energy, Facts and Future"
(CRC Press, 1989) which he claims showed "the problems with
the energy transfer to earth are enormous." Has anybody on this
list seen this book? Do you know what he's referring to? From
what I've seen and has been discussed here, the geosynchronous
to ground power conversion efficiencies don't seem that bad...

I just today received an email letter from a Dr. H.F. Matare, responding
to one of my published letters promoting space-based solar power.
Matare apparently published a book "Energy, Facts and Future"
(CRC Press, 1989) which he claims showed "the problems with
the energy transfer to earth are enormous." Has anybody on this
list seen this book? Do you know what he's referring to? From
what I've seen and has been discussed here, the geosynchronous
to ground power conversion efficiencies don't seem that bad... I've always understood the transmission of energy to Earth to be the easy part of the problem. By all means, keep us apprised of this debate as it unfolds.