HELP- - -Electricity in space settlement????

On Jun 6, 2008, at 9:45 AM, b wrote:

> PV cells require high tech plants, all of which are at the bottom of a
> gravity well.
>

Unless they're not, of course. Space settlements require substantial
lunar and cislunar infrastructure anyway, and PV cells can be made
from fairly low-tech processes out of materials that are readily
available on the Moon. That's almost certainly where your solar cells
are going to come from by the time we could build space settlements.

Solar thermal is reasonable too, but involves working fluids and
moving parts, and so is more prone to break-down. There are pros and
cons to both approaches, and market forces will work it out when the
time comes.

Best,
- Joe