Value chain · CLM-0819
In plain terms
A 2002 Japanese input-output study estimates that if each new satellite were built with electricity from those already working, a fleet of 18 sized to Japan's 1995 electricity supply would come to about 11 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour over an assumed 30-year life, roughly half the study's baseline, counting carbon dioxide only.
The claim as recorded
In the SPS-Breeder scenario, being 18 satellite and rectenna pairs sized to meet Japan's total 1995 electricity demand and built out over 18 periods in which each installed unit's output is used, where sufficient, to power construction of the next, on the same 30-year lifetime and CO2-only basis, total system lifecycle CO2 is estimated at 268 million tonnes, equivalent to 11 g CO2/kWh of the 788 billion kWh per year the 18 units produce.
Scope and limits
CO2 only, not CO2e. The same no-maintenance and no-distribution exclusions as CLM-0818 apply. This is a SELF-REPLICATION scenario, not a deployment plan, and it may not be cited as an achievable figure for any real programme. It is sized to Japanese 1995 demand specifically, so the 18-unit count is not transferable. The source's own worked calculation prints "89,32(billion g/year)", inconsistent with the "52,670" comma formatting two lines above; this appears to be a typographical error in the source and does not affect the 268 Mt total or the 11 g/kWh result, both confirmed elsewhere in the document.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
Abstract (unnumbered title page, PDF p.3): "the SPS-Breeder scenario...shows significant improvement in CO2 emissions at only 11g per kWh." Table 7 p.9, CO2 emission column total: 26797 in units of 10 thousand tons, i.e. 267.97 million t. Table 6 p.8: SPS-Breeder row, Operations 0, Construction 11, Total 11 g CO2/kWh.
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-008 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0819
CLM-0819, Energy Aperture, as of 2002.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-216
- CLM-0818A 2002 Japanese input-output study estimates that building and launching a 1978-design fleet of 60 solar power satellites would release...CLM-0820For comparison in the same units, a 2002 Japanese study of space solar power reports about 22 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour for...CLM-0821In a 2002 Japanese study of the 1978 US design, a table splits the estimated carbon dioxide from building and launching the system by part...CLM-0822In a 2002 Japanese study of the 1978 US design, building the launch rockets and the vehicles that move cargo and crews between orbits...CLM-0823A 2002 Japanese study's carbon dioxide figures for space solar power come from Japan's 1990 economic input-output tables, with 405 industry...CLM-0824This is a 2002 discussion paper that says it summarises two 1998 discussion papers by an overlapping group of authors, does not point to...CLM-1462 (low confidence)A 2020 paper's finding that its detailed method gave five to six times the carbon of an earlier, simpler study of the same 1978 design...