The universe we now inhabit is believed to be 14.5 billion years
old, while Earth is a mere 4 billion.
After the first 30-minutes of cosmic time, 75-percent of the matter-energy
left over from the "Big Bang" explosion became hydrogen, the most
abundant element in the universe. Hydrogen emerged from what was
only moments before, an inconceivably dense field of electromagnetic
and gravitational energies of immense magnitude.
On Earth, hydrogen can be separated or electrolyzed from the awesome
one quintillion four hundred thirty trillion (1,430, 000,000,000,000,000)
tons of water (H2O) contained in the oceans, by utilizing wind,
solar, and ocean thermal energy conversion systems and several thermo-chemical
processes. When hydrogen is combusted with oxygen the end product
is water vapor, thus hydrogen becomes eternally renewable by returning
to the oceans through hydrologic cycles such as rainfall.
NASA rates hydrogen safer than gasoline, and because it is a gaseous
or liquid fuel, it can power any existing engines - including jet
turbines - which are currently powered by the nonrenewable, highly
polluting fossil fuels. Because hydrogen is a high-grade fuel and
exceptional energy storage medium, it is a critical component of
a solar energy technology base.
The most energetic systems using hydrogen as fuel are the stars.
There are over 200 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, which
is just one such star system among the one billion one hundred million
observed in the visible universe. Over a period of several hundred
years, using the resources within the solar system, a sphere could
be constructed around the Sun consisting of individual space habitats
each up to 12-miles in diameter and millions of solar power satellites
tapping as much as 8.33x 10 (to the 25th power) kilowatt-hours of
electromagnetic energy daily. This enormous structure , (some 93
million miles in radius) will not run out of energy for several
billion years!
The energy made available and the opening of space for human habitation
from an expanding solar/hydrogen energy-economy will reorganize
worldwide resources, technologies, and institutions to provide for
100% of humanity all of its life support needs with an ever improving
quality of life.
by John Ross (1976) |
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