Solar power sats without colonies...

--- In spacesettlers, bmaillists wrote:

> Whether groundbased Solar is Thermal or PV or both, it still has
> the problem of generating and storing (the expensive bit - even if
> you use thermal methods) enough electricity for 24 hours off of
> approximately 5 peak hours of sunlight.
>
> Brett

Ya know, I'm fond of saying that the problem with a ground-based solar
energy system is that it's dark half the time. I've even been known
to shout about it: ITS **DARK** HALF THE TIME!!!!! But the reality is
worse than that, isn't it? It's dark half the time, and semi-dark for
nearly half of what's left. The Earth isn't Edgar Rice Burroughs'
Pellucidar, not even half the time. It isn't night half the time and
noon the other half. For purposes of solar energy, the Earth sucks,
and that's in the daytime.