US Navy wirelessly beamed 1.6kW of power using microwaves

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A team of researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has successfully demonstrated wireless transmission of power over a distance of one kilometer (0.621 miles), the U.S. Navy said in a press release.

 

Quite an accomplishment, but...

The idea of beaming energy wireless has been around for decades, but it is gaining steam again as humanity looks to change its ways of harnessing energy. While the concept of setting up solar farms on other planets and beaming back power to the Earth is still far from reality, the U.S. military could ensure energy security for its troops as it looks to cut its dependence on fossil fuels

I thought the motivation behind abandoning fossil fuels was to the reduce greenhouse gasses and therefore reduce the heating of the planet. So how does it help to collect energy that was heating another planet and beam it to earth? Aren't we bombarded with more than enough energy already without bringing in more? Won't this add to the problem? Any destruction we can do is currently limited to that which we can achieve by burning up what is already here, and unless someone can explain why I'm wrong, I think it's best we keep it that way.

I think we would do better to stop killing the atmosphere and work on improving our ability to harness the energy that gets through it; that energy which we can't stop or do anything about, and doing something useful with it.

 

There are also plans to develop technology to pump heat out of the earth. Maybe we'll eventually reach a balance of sorts in the next few centuries.

 

There are also plans to develop technology to pump heat out of the earth. Maybe we'll eventually reach a balance of sorts in the next few centuries.

That's less alarming to me. Taking what's already here, and using it. Maybe it's still not good, bringing heat from the core and releasing it on the surface, I don't know. I don't really understand anything on this scale. But the idea of releasing heat on the surface of this planet that was imported from another planet, just seems like a bad and unnecessary call to this layman.

Also the idea of walking through unguarded and invisible microwave beams seems hazardous to me, even if deemed "intrinsically safe" by whoever. But now I am probably talking out of the same ignorance that causes people to decry nuclear power, and that irks me badly, so I will stop. Maybe I will better inform myself. Probably not. Maybe later.

 

That's less alarming to me. Taking what's already here, and using it. Maybe it's still not good, bringing heat from the core and releasing it on the surface, I don't know. I don't really understand anything on this scale. But the idea of releasing heat on the surface of this planet that was imported from another planet, just seems like a bad and unnecessary call to this layman.

Also the idea of walking through unguarded and invisible microwave beams seems hazardous to me, even if deemed "intrinsically safe" by whoever. But now I am probably talking out of the same ignorance that causes people to decry nuclear power, and that irks me badly, so I will stop. Maybe I will better inform myself. Probably not. Maybe later.

That's *not* what I meant. I meant pumping heat out of the atmosphere (and even the oceans) and onto space. Pumping heat out of the core would not be a good idea in the long term, because the core itself is responsible for the planet's protective magnetic field.

 

Also the idea of walking through unguarded and invisible microwave beams seems hazardous to me, even if deemed "intrinsically safe" by whoever.

There are proposals out there about building a huge ring around the earth, about 1 km wide, that would be populated with solar cells, and a few stations at the equator (about 8 or 12) that would collect the energy beams produced at the ring and turn them into electricity. That would require clearing a small area of a few square kilometers for safety purposes, and also the enforcement of no fly zones. It would be minimally intrusive for the environment, IMHO.

 

US Navy wirelessly beamed 1.6kW of power using microwaves
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OK. What's so special about it? 10 gigahertz (GHz) microwave beams at utility scale power ranges are 'safe'?

The June 5, 1975 NASA JPL Goldstone Demonstration of high power long distance wireless power transmission successfully transmitted 34kw of electrical power a distance of 1.5km at an efficiency of greater than 82%. At the time, it was the world record for high power long distance wireless power transmission, and it may remain the world record yet today.

I just don't see how beaming power from space will be cost competitive with ground based solar and storage.

 

OK. What's so special about it? 10 gigahertz (GHz) microwave beams at utility scale power ranges are 'safe'?

I just don't see how beaming power from space will be cost competitive with ground based solar and storage.

Nowadays, we like to repeat what was done decades ago and congratulate ourselves- next stop THE MOON!

 

Gunpowder was reportedly first used as a military weapon in 904 AD and still the military mainstay today. Energy weapons (other than cyber attacks) will become what gunpowder weapons are today. In fact...

U.S. Navy Conducts Historic Test Of New Laser Weapon System
U.S. Navy Conducts Historic Test of New Laser Weapon System - Naval News

 

Conventional explosives are pretty damn effective and cheap. I don't see directed energy weapons replacing them for a very long time except for the few tasks were speed on target (like hyper-sonic missile intercepts) is important..

THE WORST job in the world.? Driving a Russian tank.