THE BATTALION
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1978
Page 7
Views conflict during SC ON A
‘Sun may supply all energy
By MARILYN BROWN
The sun, so sorely missed the last
few weeks, may one day supply all
the world's electricity, says Harlan
Smith, University of Texas professor
of Astronomy.
Dr. Smith was part of a three-
member panel which spoke on fu
ture energy technology during a
Friday morning meeting at the Stu
dent Conference on National Af
fairs.
The other speakers were E. Linn
Draper, University of Texas profes
sor of Nuclear Engineering, and Dr.
Stephen Riter, head of Texas Engi
neering Experiment Station Center
for Energy and Mineral Resources.
Riter spoke first on what he
termed “mundane solutions to the
energy problem. These include
biomass conversion — deriving
energy from organic matter — and
the use of alcohol, coal, and solar
energy.
Riter contended that the sun is
tlie ultimate source of all energy and
that oil and gas represent that
energy trapped in plants and tapped
amillenia later. Because the world’s
population can’t wait another mil-
lenia, Riter suggests direct fuel
production from crop, animal and
municipal wastes.
Riter said the greatest misconcep
tion about the energy crisis is that
“we think we have to make large-
scale, irrevocable decisions between
nuclear or solar power.
Riter said small-scale power
production would lessen the need to
build large power plants or to con
vert exisiting ones. This would in
volve individual solar or coal units in
the home and farms which supply
their own energy with methane gas
made from manure and alcohol
made from crop wastes.
He said many small projects
across the state researching these
energy sources.
Panelists agreed the federal gov
ernment would be a major influence
on the types of energy developed
because it regulates the energy in
dustry so extensively.
Riter said he thinks large-scale
energy production encourages fur
ther government regulation and re
striction and enables a few large
corporations to dominate the indus
try.
He said nuclear energy now ac
counts for half the Carter adminis
tration’s energy research funds.
“It’s a question of whether the
government will put its eggs in one
basket or provide the incentive for a
variety of energy sources, Riter
said.
Draper, a nuclear energy propo
nent, said he thinks nuclear energy
and coal “will bear the lion’s share
of the U.S. energy needs of the next
25 years.
“Unless the government allows
the construction of more (nuclear)
plants we face a critical energy
shortage,” Draper said.
He said there are 68 nuclear
plants in the U.S. which provide 10
percent of the country’s electric
power. They provide as much as 70
percent for the Chicago area when
coal is in short supply, Draper said
He said nuclear energy is the
least sensitive to fuel cost increases
because the amount of fuc 1 ’ -ired
is so small. It now costs t r
kilowatt hour, 20 percent <Tu oer
than coal at $.18 per kilowatt I ur,
and half the price of natural gas at
$.35 per kilowatt hour.
Draper said he thinks nuclear
energy has caught on slowly because
“politicians have misconceived the
public sentiment. He said national
polls have found 60 percent of the
public “at the grass roots level in
support of nuclear energy. He also
said extensive government regula
tion impedes private investments in
nuclear plants.
Draper said nuclear plants were
“among the safest devices devised
by man,” calling them safer than any
other type of power plants. As a
guard for potential nuclear blast,
government strictly regulates their
construction and it takes about 13
years to build a nuclear plant that
meets government safety standards.
He said waste disposal and radia
tion leaks are not a problem because
wastes are sealed in glass and buried
3,000 feet beneath the earth’s sur
face. After 700 years they are no
more toxic than any known radiation
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Friday’s SCONA Energy Technology Panel
presented three views on future energy
sources. Left to right are Dr. Stephen Riter,
who proposed simplistic solutions to the
Battalion photo by Susan Webb
energy crisis; Dr. Harlan Smith, who looks to
the sun to supply the world’s energy needs,
and Dr. Linn Draper, who is a nuclear
energy proponent.
damage due to leaks from nuclear
plants.
However, such damage would
cause irreparable damage to a large
body of land.
Draper said that no nuclear plants
in this country have been used to
build atomic weapons.
Harlan Smith called the sun a
“super nuclear fusion plant, and
said he believes that solar space sta
tions are the only run, large-scale
solutions to the energy crisis.
Solar space stations would reflect
the suns’s rays and send energy in
the form of microwaves to collection
points on earth. Smith said he
thinks they will provide substantial
amounts of our energy within 40 to
50 years.
Smith said every square inch of
the sun has 10,000 times the amount
of energy used in the world —
virtually an infinite supply. The sun
always shines in space, and the sta
tions could use the sun’s energy
without atmospheric interference.
The stations would be con
structed in space by workers living
in orbit around the earth. Smith said
by 1980 the space shuttle would be
making weekly runs to “park
supplies in orbit unless the adminis
tration loses its nerv e. The stations
can be constructed of lightweight
materials because of the weightless
ness of space.
Smith said the solar collectors on
earth would not block sunlight and
the land beneath them could be
used for farming.
“All this may sound like science
fiction, but we re not so far from it,”
Smith said. “We have the technol
ogy, we just need to develop it to
reduce costs.
The initial cost is estimated be
tween $40 to $100 billion. But
Smith said he thinks by the year
2000 profits will outweigh costs.
One thousand space stations
woidd cover the world s needs, and
between 50 to 100, depending on
the size, would be needed for the
U.S.
Smith said the solar space stations
woidd add a “human constellation
o the night sky. He said he thinks
they will be the driving force toward
making use of space — the “next
frontier".
“We 11 find that space isn’t the last
frontier, but out birthright and a
necessity to man’s future.
T in concerned with getting the
human rffce through the hext 20 to
25 years,” Smith said. “After that
our supplies and our room to grow
are infinite."
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