It used to be when we did not have to move stuff in order to get energy for our needs.
Then came the industrial revolution. We discovered efficiency and convenience of steam engines and factory machines. Since then we started making energy further and further from where we need it. We erected dams on rivers far from cities, we dug and drilled the earth for something we could burn for energy - coal or oil. And we started moving huge amounts of stuff (through pipelines, with tankers, over power lines etc.) in order to get energy where we need it, spending energy to do so, and losing a big portion of it along the way. If you were asked to design the energy process from the scratch, would you choose a complicated system involving getting raw fuel (oil, coal) in one part of the planet, bringing it to the place we can process it to usable form (refined fuel), then move it again huge distances so it could be burned to generate energy? And then we need to transmit that energy (in electricity form) long distances again to the places where we use it. Permanent renewable sources - solar plants and wind farms - cut some steps but can't avoid other - we still need to move energy from the producer to the consumer, with the same losses, plus added complexity of the grid control and security.
What do you do if the grid is down or pipeline jeopardized? What if you need energy in a different place, especially where there is no grid - do you want to pull the power lines with you? We live in a wireless world - why do we still rely on steel and copper to deliver energy? You may ask: do we have a choice? Yes we do.
Autonomous Mobile Energy System (#AMES) is such a choice. It can be delivered to any location in the world and provide an uninterrupted source of clean energy on demand, then moved to another place if needed.
Dr. Paul Jaffe from the US Naval Research Lab (NRL) says that today, a confluence of advances at NRL and elsewhere presents an unprecedented opportunity to develop two potentially revolutionary energy technologies: power beaming and space-based solar. Delivering energy without moving or employing mass and the prospect of collecting clean, continuous, abundant sunlight in space and distributing it globally present compelling capabilities for remote installation energy resupply, disaster response and many other applications. #AMES module is an ideal platform to build upon the ground segment of such space-based solar power system.
Modular architecture of the #AMES module makes it flexible allowing them when deployed over the remote area to be used as temporary cell towers, or nodes of the ground network for the internet-over-the-satellite system, such as Starlink, being currently deployed by SpaceX.
In the mean time, if there is a source of waste heat, such as waste processing or a commercial operation, #AMES can serve as a thermal energy battery able to store excess energy and then use it for heating spaces or other purposes.
Microsoft is experimenting with the underwater data server for the purpose of autonomy and efficient cooling. It is designed in the form of a cylinder of the size fitting the standard shipping container. Thus, Microsoft is convinced, it could be deployed to remote places like islands, or disaster areas to support relief efforts. Why not in the remote Northern areas with their natural cooling? Incorporated in the #AMES module, they could sink all of the waste heat into the onboard thermal energy storage to be then directed for heating and other useful purposes.
It's time to move away from moving energy around - we can get energy where and when we need it!
