The world is looking for brand new ways to get energy as fossil fuels get used up. There are quite a few methods out there, from wind energy to solar panels that harvest the radiation from the sun, so geo-thermal energy. However, one of the ways that researchers are looking at harvest huge amounts of energy is from a star. This is because our lifestyle is simply not sustainable the way it is. In the future, more and more energy is going to be needed and we use energy for so many different things – to prepare the food that we eat, not to mention storage of the food, entertainment, distribution of food and other supplies. Lighting and transportation.
While there are many things that need to be done over the coming years such as cleaning up the oceans, stopping or reversing global warming and others, fossil fuels are an immediate concern. For one thing, they aren’t going to be able to provide the power that we need in the future, and experts are predicting any number of side effects. There are other types of power available of course, including nuclear energy, but one thing that scientists are looking at in the future is getting energy from a star. Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev thought that in the future a civilization might get its power from the entire planet. In fact, he classified that as a Type I civilization, with Type II being a civilization that harnessed the energy of a star and a Type III as one that that harnesses the power of a galaxy.
But what does it take to harness the energy from a star. Scientists believe it would be possible with what is called a Dyson Sphere, which is a theoretical (for now) construct that would encompass a star and collect all of the energy from it. Even though no one has any idea right now how to build one, it is at least possible. As for how much energy that you could collect. – it would be enough to run a planet and much more. Who knows what the future will hold. Eventually, the human race might advance far enough to do just that and even progress past the Type I civilization to a Type II or even a Type III.
