I read a fascinating story in today's New York Times. It sounds like it's ripped straight from the plot of a James Bond film!
An idea, proposed by the Club of Rome (which is billed as "an international group of experts that suggests solutions to global problems") is an idea to power much of northern Africa and Europe. The idea, basically, is to place large mirrors across the Sahara Desert. The mirrors--which are not photovoltaic cells--would collect the sun's energy, which energy would then boil water, which would produce steam to turn turbines thereby generating energy.
The mirrors would be placed in northern Africa, in the embattled Maghreb region. Critics of the plan say that local politics and resource scarcity could negatively impact--or even tank--the plan. However, the story cites the more common bureaucratic red tape as the most likely reason the plan would fail.
This plan is being executed by an entity called Desertec, and it's set to cost a minimum of $573 billion. The plan is being supported mainly by German finance firms, who have an interest in supporting sustainable energy: For such firms, the climate change poses a fiscal threat since insuring weather-related catastrophes accounts for a large part of their expenses.
Organizations and politicians who support localized, small-scale photovoltaic power generation also oppose the plan.
“Sahara power for northern Europe is a mirage,” said Hermann Scheer, a member of the German Parliament and the head of the European Association for Renewable Energy. “Those behind the project know themselves that nothing will ever come out of this.”However, the tantalizing potential of the Desertec plan is tangible. The news story cites the fact that "more energy falls on the world’s deserts in six hours than the world consumes in a year." That's certainly impressive.
