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"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music."

Aldous Huxley

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Featured Weather Articles

How To Get Up-to-Date Weather Info Via RSS Feeds
If you haven't heard about RSS or Atom feeds don't feel bad. I just started usingthem about 4 months ago myself. Still, you can take a step right now to take your websurfing to the next level.Perhaps you have heard of Blogs or Weblogs as they are properly ...

How to make a time-lapse video with your digital video camera
Getting the most out of your digital video camera can mean being able to create some really cool stuff. You just have to step outside the manual a bit and find the cool things you can do with your digital video camera and your editing software.We have all ...

Personal impact - Making the Impact You Choose
Lots of people say first impressions matter. Indeed, the academics and psychologists who study this kind of stuff, say that people take about a nano-second to make up their minds on meeting someone new. You may call it a snap judgement; we think it's more ...





Space-Based Renewable Energy
 
Solar energy directly from the source? Clean, non-polluting, nearly limitless, and renewable energy - sound too good to be true?

In the coming decades, this pipedream may just become a reality.

solar panels on Earth are a clean and moderately efficient means of collecting solar power. But atmospheric turbulence, combined with localized weather and climatic factors, make earth-based solar powers only efficent to a degree. A space-based solar station would function at optimal capacity nearly all of the time, and would simply have to beam the energy to earth via radio waves to harvest clean, renewable energy at efficiency ratings previously unheard of.

Several challenges must first be addressed, however.

First, it's appearant that the cost of launching and assembling the materials in space is going to be an issue for the profitability for the company that undertakes this momentous task. Advances in


launch technology combined with the impending privitization of the space-faring industry should reduce launch costs per kilogram by as much as a factor of 5 in the coming century, and a large-scale solar power plant in space could become a reality.

The second major consideration is the cost of assembling such a structure in space, but this can be addressed by advancements in robotics and teleoperation, which could make a the large-scale construction of a kilometer-sized object in space a much more economically feasible undertaking.

Time will tell if such a project ever gets off the ground, but we can only hope that as our oil resources dwindle and technology advances, this option will become more affordable and the world can benefit from a clean, steady stream of energy directly from the sun.


About the Author
David Saharkhiz is a contributor to various website publications related to solar panels.


Weather News



Atlanta Journal Constitution

Santorum labels Romney 'well-oiled weather vane'
Atlanta Journal Constitution
AP WASHINGTON — A jubilant Rick Santorum is leveraging victories in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri to increase pressure on Mitt Romney, labeling him "a well-oiled weather vane" who often shifts his positions. El aspirante a la candidatura ...
Front-runner Romney looks to weather late surge from underdog Santorum ahead ...Washington Post

all 7,187 news articles »

Sofia Echo

Cold winter weather, snow in short supply this season
MiamiHerald.com
While weather varies with each season and year, climate scientists worldwide have observed a longer-term global warming trend. They've reached a consensus that it can be explained only by the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, ...
European freeze may last to end of FebruaryReuters
It's Winter. Where's the Snow?Patch.com

all 65 news articles »

The Huntsville Times - al.com

Colder weather ahead in central Oklahoma
NewsOK.com
Oklahoma's balmy winter weather is going behind the clouds with cooler temperatures ahead this week, the National Weather Service reports. The high temperature in Oklahoma City Wednesday will be 43 degrees with north, northwest winds and cloudy skies.
Seasonable weather — without the snow — on tapCapital Times
WEATHER: Chance of rain, snow tonightAsbury Park Press
Wednesday forecast: Snow after noon, high near 39Baltimore Sun (blog)
Westport-News -Wausau Daily Herald -Journal and Courier
all 112 news articles »

The nations weather
Atlanta Journal Constitution
By WEATHER UNDERGROUND AP A strong ridge of high pressure will dig southward across the Central US Wednesday, while both coasts will be battling with low pressure systems. Out West, the low pressure system that brought wet and cool weather to ...
The nation's weatherWashington Post

all 43 news articles »

ABC News

Global Warming: Like 'Weather on Steroids'
ABC News
Or more appropriately, what impact is climate change having on our weather? To help answer those questions, a group of researchers has just released a new online guide for understanding the links between more extreme weather and a warming planet.

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