Re: "Concerned citizens" only hope for SPS......by Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill

On Sat, 28 Oct 2006 01:35:55 GMT, Fred J. McCall
<fmccall@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

:>:>:deployed in a large open mesh that allows enough sunlight through to
:>:>:allow agriculture underneath the rectenna...
: There are other things that can be done underneath rectenna arrays,
:besides growing cash crops like wheat and corn.
Yes, there are, but that wasn't what was called out.

'Agriculture' is not JUST wheat, corn, and soy, you know... :-)

How high off the ground is your rectenna and WHY? Is there any reason
not to just put it down close to the ground?

Sure - you could put the rectenna right on the ground... if for no
other reason than for ease of maintenance. But you're talking about
LARGE amounts of land being wasted that way - if you can get a double
use out of it, why not do it?

: Farmers are starting to allow wind-generators (lots of'em!) to be
:built on their fields, and don't seem to have any problem adjusting.
Where are they doing this and are they still farming those fields or
are they taking money to not farm them?

There are a couple of wind-farms being placed on farmers' lands in
the areas north of Toronto, Ontario - where I live. The base of a
wind generator isn't all that big, so they're not losing a LOT of
land.
.