economics of bootstrapping (was New Book on Space Colonies)

--- In ssi_list@... "Arthur P. Smith"

> The more I think about it, the more frustrated I am that people
don't
> take SPS more seriously. All of us should be writing every
politician,
> bureaucrat, newspaper, etc. we can think of, because it's such a
HUGE
> win for the world if we can make this happen. It just boggles the
mind
> that we haven't been investing in it. I mean, billions have been
spent
> on nuclear fusion with little to show; hundreds of billions have
been
> spent by the US government on nuclear fission (both for weapons
and
> subsidies to power plants - yeah, that's why they built so many in
the
> 60's and 70's and none since - it's not cost effective without
subsidy,
> and they want to bring the subsidies back!) and we still have a
> many-hundred-billion dollar problem of nuclear waste on our hands.

Very well written. Despite our differences on other issues, pretty
much everything you write about SPS I find am in complete agreement
with (oh oh, this may be an omen for you to reconsider your support
of SPS :-)

I humbly suggest you give some thought to the potential of a
pollution trading exchange and if a SPS consortium could be a seller
of "pollution free vouchers."

>
> > Currently, the governments of the world are
> >content on having an oil-based economy, and in the
> >future going towards a hydrogen based economy.
> >
> The "hydrogen" economy is a mirage - hydrogen isn't just "out
there" on
> Earth, you have to make it out of something (water or fossil
fuels, but
> then you're still relying on oil really) and that takes energy.
What is
> powering the power plants that generate hydrogen for the hydrogen
> economy? SPS is the only logical long-term choice.
>
> Arthur

Again, well written. Fuel cells are great batteries, but the energy
has to come from somwhere and the big source is going to be natural
gas. The byproduct is going to be increased levels of CO2. Just the
last thing we need for global warming. What happens when the natural
gas runs low after a couple of decades? Electrolysis of seawater?
Where are you going to get the energy for that? Coal? Great!

Other differences aside, I like your wide ranging analysis of the
SPS question which puts it in perspective with respect to the
industries, subsidies and hidden costs of it s competitor energy
sources.

TangoMan