Stratospheric internet

The assembled balloon in Christchurch, New Zealand

Google has balloon crazy.

Hot on the heels of the blimp trials in sub-Saharan Africa, Google has this weekend arrived at New Zealand's Lake Tekapo to launch a helium filled balloon that has climbed 20 km up into the stratosphere.

Project Loon is all pretty hush-hush but Google has released some details of the mission. The Tekapo trial is the first of the proof of concept field tests - within minutes of launching the balloon it was in position and beaming internet to the ground crew, quaintly closeted in the living room of local resident.

Local resident helps with the test

The balloons are cheap to manufacture and potentially could stay airborne for hundreds of days at a time. They're solar powered so they don't need refuelling.  With a big enough swarm of these things they could provide internet from the skies to whole countries, continents or even the entire globe.

Beaming internet from the heavens removes a huge pile of the normal logistical obstacles - no topology to get in the way, no resource consents or infrastructure headaches. In times of disasters, like earthquakes and floods, a balloon service could quickly be deployed to fill the void left by terrestrial services knocked out by the catastrophe.

It's early days but this first trial is already being hailed as a success. It's been the talk of the weekend here in New Zealand with provincial residents, disgruntled at their lousy internet connectivity, getting very excited at the Loon tests.

Up, up and away for sky high wi-fi (Stuff)

Loon project brings the web to billions (NZ Herald)

Balloon powered internet (TechRadar)

Project Loon launches from the Canterbury Plains

Icarus reborn

Solar Impulse - continental flight powered by the sun

A story of adventure, danger and a real pioneering spirit is that of the Solar Impulse, the world's most
advanced sun-powered aircraft.

This project reveals the same determination as those early aviators demonstrated.  Solar Impulse's latest flight lasted some 20 hours taking the pilot from California to Phoenix, Arizona.

The plane often flies high at 27,000 feet to maximise the solar charging ability.  With a tailwind it can manage 110 kph, although the regular cruise speed is around 70 kph.

It's light, around the weight of a small car, so it does tend to get buffeted by wind, it doesn't fly well in cloud and it takes a skillful pilot to keep this one airborne.

Solar Impulse flew for 26 hours on its maiden flight.  That is an incredible time for a pilot to stay alert but it does show the amazing range of this aircraft.  The batteries allow for this epic journey as the stored power enables it to fly by day and night.

Those incredible 63 metre long wings have some 12,000 photovoltaic cells to charge the batteries.

This is an amazing aircraft and one that will no doubt break all sorts of distance records for a craft that is powered not by fossil fuels but by the electricity generated from sunlight alone.

Another example of how science is pushing the barriers of what we can expect from renewable energy sources.

A 63m wingspan and 12,000 photovoltaic solar cells

Links to Solar Impulse

The Solar Impulse

The Solar Impulse (Wikipedia)

The Solar Impulse (youTube channel)

First leg of journey - California to Arizona (Mashable)

Next10 and solar power

The Next 10 Years: Solar power

What is this technology?

Solar power is the harnessing of energy from the sun in order to generate electricity.

This is not a new technology - solar or photovoltaic cells have been with us since 1931.

Solar (photovoltaic) panels

Solar power is a renewable energy source, meaning that it is not constrained by a finite supply like traditional fossil fuels, such as coal, oil or gas.

Solar power is already widely used domestically, generally as a secondary or back-up power source by mounting photovoltaic panels on the house roof.

Solar energy collection is ramped up on a commercial scale to generate power that feeds into the power grid like this development in the deserts of Nevada.

So, it's already happening but where will it go next?

What will happen?

Governments are coming under increasing pressure to change energy generation from fossil fuels and nuclear energy to sustainable, renewable methods.  That pressure will continue to build, resulting in civil unrest in states that refuse to yield to public opinion.

International treaties will penalise countries that fail to embrace renewable technologies, leading to trade sanctions and financial sanctions for non-compliance.

Tax breaks, government grants and other financial incentives will favour renewable energy schemes.

Private and commercial enterprise will develop solar power generation to create more efficient methods of generation, transmission and storage of electricity harnessed from solar radiation.

How will this impact society?

Land will need to be set aside to build vast solar farms.  In the same way that communities must now learn to live with the visual effects of wind farm developments, they will need to accept that power generation using solar power also requires allocating precious land resources.

50 hectares and 150,000 panels

People want renewable energy, as is demonstrated by the growing support for ecologically aware political parties.  However, it will be interesting to see whether this gives rise to an increasing 'not in my backyard' reaction from local communities.

As solar power generation and power from other renewable sources, such as wind, hydro, and wave enters the mainstream more households will reduce their dependence on commercial generation and install their own   solar panels or wind turbine for self-sustaining.

How will this impact industry?

Renewable energy appeals to people on a personal level.  It has a feel good factor that should not be underestimated.  It's not just the die-hard environmentalists that value projects that redress some of the balance by switching from toxic, resource depleting power generation to harvesting natural elements like the wind or the sun.

A company that can demonstrate commitment to using renewable power sources in their production processes is going to win some supporters from the general public but they may also gain some financial incentives too.  Where government or local councils grants and rebates are available to companies that embrace renewable resources, there are cost savings to be made in production.

Clearly it would be idealistic to think that a factory is going to disconnect from the power grid and plant a wind turbine in the carpark in a bid for self-sufficiency.  However, that same company may be able to save some money by covering their capacious warehouse roof with solar panels to cut down on the power they actually need to draw from the grid.  Those government grants or tax rebates could come in very handy for making those improvements a feasible development.

In developing nations where power has always been unreliable in its availability and prohibitively expensive, power generation from renewable resources like the solar power stations appearing in some Pacific Island nations, there is at last a real chance for sustainable projects and business enterprises to develop.  

What supports this prediction?

Directory of photovoltaic power generators

Greenough River solar farm (Australia)

Solar farm in Ghana

Hawaiian solar farm up and running

Tax incentives for solar energy (New York)

Home photovoltaic panels for solar energy

Wind turbine for home installation