Solar Power on a Cloudy Planet
In 2010, I began building a world — an earth-like planet with a particularly cloudy atmosphere, a planet I named Luratia (lur - ray - sha).
Because they were highly vulnerable to greenhouse gas effects, Luratians never strayed very long in their use and development of polluting sources of energy. They took a liking to wind power, tidal power, geothermal and nuclear. But in the end, they settled on solar.
Solar power on a cloudy planet? The secret is space. Massive solar cell platforms hover in near-orbit and harmlessly beam electricity to the ground, where it is wirelessly distributed across the planet. There is such an abundance of wireless electricity, it is virtually impossible to meter, thus is free to anyone with a proper receiving device. Modern-era gadgets are powered anywhere, everywhere, all the time, without cords or batteries.
The technological landscape of Luratia is modeled in the likeness of our own near future so as to capture a realistic vision of the world and people we are growing into. As Earth soon will, Luratia is roiling in the wonders and hazards of its Nano Age—an era of microscopic machines, intelligent matter, retina-display virtual-reality smart phones, bionic eyes and limbs, and ubiquitous video surveillance. It is an age into which Earth is quickly entering, eyes closed, for better and for worse. Learn more about my planet Luratia. Read about space-based solar power in my Luratia wiki.