Japanese idea of using satellite for split water on the ground

An interesting twist on the SPS idea appears at
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/laser_hydrogen_020109-1.html
:

"What makes Dr. Mori unique, however, is what he imagines to be more
sensible: hydrogen blasted out of water by giant lasers in low Earth
orbit." I'mdelighted, though, thatspace.com chose to consult with our very own Dr. Lee Valentine. Note that he comments that this scheme would have to improve its efficiency from 30% to 80% in order to be competitive with a standard SPS applied to splitting hydrogen. Dr. Mori can say his system is more "direct", but efficiency's the bottom line.

Regards,

Mike Combs