00:00This is what solar power in space looks like in science fiction.
00:03It's called the Dyson Sphere.
00:04Each of those tiny dots are satellites in orbit around the sun,
00:07collecting its energy and then zapping it millions of miles back to Earth.
00:10Big tech has ambitious plans to make a Timu version of a Dyson Sphere,
00:14putting millions of satellites into orbit around the Earth.
00:16Just like the sci-fi Dyson Sphere, the Timu Dyson Sphere doesn't exist.
00:20In fact, the problem it's trying to solve doesn't exist either.
00:22Because we already have these here on Earth,
00:24the thinking behind solar and space does make sense,
00:26because there are no nights and no clouds in space to block out the sun's rays.
00:31In fact, META just signed a deal with Virginia-based Overview Energy
00:34to someday collect energy from their future space-based solar eventual technology.
00:40But batteries, which also already exist on Earth,
00:44can store solar energy for when the sun isn't shining.
00:47And there are massive hurdles to make space solar remotely competitive with those batteries.
00:52First, the cost of launching rockets into space will have to fall dramatically
00:55to make space-based solar economically feasible.
00:57Even if launch costs fall, as some people expect them to do by 2040,
01:01they'll still be maybe cheaper than nuclear, but nowhere close to solar or even wind.
01:05Space is also getting kind of crowded.
01:07There's a lot of junk floating around up there,
01:09and having a bunch of junk slamming into each other in space is not a good idea.
01:12Timing is also a huge disadvantage for space-based solar.
01:15If you're the CEO of an AI company that needs power for your data center right away,
01:19your best bet is ground-based solar, or maybe even wind.
01:22Tech companies may believe that space-based solar will eventually be easy.
01:26I don't think it will be.
01:27What's at least slightly easier is making the case for renewable energy right here on Earth.
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