Solar ? Wind ? What about solar wind ?!?

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All this prattling about 'clean energy' that's being tossed about lately got me thinking...

You got T Boone Pickens yammering on about how the gov't should subsidize his wind farm business so he can make a fortune in a new manner of venture - plus a lot of other people generating a proverbial 'mighty wind' over... well, wind...

The you got another camp creating their own hot air mass over how we should pretty much cover every horizontal surface in existence with solar panels... Tops of buildings: solar panels... loads of empty spaces in the deserts: pave 'em with solar panels... slap some solar panels on the top of your electro-buggy so you won't have to plug the damned thing in so often...

Solar...

Solar...

Solar...

Wind...

Wind...

Wind...


Sweet Holy Friggin' Jesus !


So, anyway - I sez to myself, I sez -

What about solar wind ?!

That shit is out there - right this minute - just whizzing thru space.

There's gotta be some use for it.

I mean - we're wasting all this money building this mook-ass space station and sending these robot go-carts to Mars for the luvva shit !

Why don't we spend that cash on something useful, like trying to exploit this forever-esque torrent of energy blasting out like a neon sign reading: Yo, stupid-ass ape men ! I'm right friggin' here !

Plus it's a combo platter of both greeny dipshit camps' cream dreams.
What oil company conspiracy is holding up action on this ?


So, really - I mean, is there even the slightest possibility that it could be of any utility whatever ?

I mean - at first blush, it don't seem no stupider than sending a machine to dig thru some Martian dirt trying to find 'microbe shit' or whatever - but whadda I know ?
:shrug:

 

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"is there even the slightest possibility that it could be of any utility whatever ?"

One use under development is the spinning of immense, thin solar sails for the purpose of carrying our sensors and spawn. It requires stupendous surface/mass ratios to yield practical acceleration, but they will be steerable and interstellar.

 

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Given the density of the solar wind and its speed, you would need a collector some 48 meters square per watt of power collected.

 

The exploration of Space may seem like a waste of money to you but it has an enormous number of not immediately apparent benefits to society in the form of technological inovation.
some listed here:
http://www.thespaceplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.html
http://www.stars4space.org/Benefits.html

Secondly, it's not as if that money is just flushed down the toilet, it creates a significant number of jobs in various highly skilled fields (e.g., various forms of engineering) and provides a significant stimulus to the economy.