Lunar solar power

The Earth continually intercepts ∼175,000 terawatts of solar power. However, just a fraction of this sunlight is captured every year by the biosphere in the form of newly separated atmospheric carbon and oxygen, mostly from water. Each year the trees, grasses and grains of the continents´ biomass capture thermal energy, in the form of new plant mass, but only ∼0.03% of the primary solar energy. The article discusses various ways that solar energy can be exploited on Earth. It then proposes a lunar solar power system in which solar power is collected on the Moon and transferred to Earth via microwave power beams. It is impractical and costly simply to gather solar power on Earth because Earth´s atmosphere and clouds reflect solar power back to space, absorb it, and block it from reaching the surface of Earth. The lunar solar power system overcomes these problems.