Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 44 — page 58: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION heat in gigantic bins of gravel does not strike one as being in the best traditions of applied science. But no one has come up with any better idea. For inventors there would hardly be a more potentially lucrative field. The man who devises equipment for the economic use of solar energy will become the richest man the world has ever known, and will be able to spend his gains with easy conscience— knowing that he has given the world something that is really beyond price, a source of free power. But basic theory holds out little hope of that man ever appearing. It looks as though we shall just have to carry on building bigger and better mirrors, finding better storage materials and more efficient photoelectric converters. Per- haps the utilisation of solar energy will only become a serious factor in national affairs when various groups get together and jointly con- struct a huge mirror and heat- ing plant, turning the resulting 57 energy supply to communal use. But even before that would pay off there would have to be a great deal of work done on insulators, capacitors and metallurgical problems. — Also, for the far future, it must be remembered that the satellite station is designed to run on solar power col- lected by an enormous mirror. If means could be found of sending energy aS a wave form over fairly large dis- tances, it might be possible that a chain of satellite stations designed for the express pur- pose of gathering and relaying solar energy might go a long way to making this tremen- dous source of energy available on Earth. There is no means at present of telling whether this will be done. For the time being we shall just have to let the major part of this energy stream away from us and be lost. And there seems little hope that the Sun will ever rival atomic energy as a main source of power. connicloookks.Ccomn)