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"Every scientist worth his salt that I know of has read science fiction."
- Greg Bear
 |
| Personal Solar Plant | ||
| A single-home solar-powered energy source. |
An early take on this idea.
| "...For instance there is the solar plant. You know what a solar plant is."
Vickers nodded. "A power plant operated by the sun." "Exactly," said the salesman. "This plant, however, is somewhat more efficient than the usual solar plant. It not only heats the house in winter, but supplies electrical power for all the year around. It eliminates the necessity of relying upon a public utility for your power. I might add there is plenty of power, much more than you will ever need." |
| From Ring Around the Sun,
by Clifford Simak. Published by Galaxy Science Fiction in 1952 Additional resources -
|
Compare to black power from Larry Niven's 1995 novella The Woman in Del Rey Crater, the solar power reception screens from Robert Heinlein's 1940 novella The Roads Must Roll and the shipstone from Heinlein's 1982 novel Friday.
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'A metal... light as cork and stronger than steel...'
'Ken lay full-length in the padded body compartment, his feet resting on the controlling bars of the directional planes, hands on the torpoon's engine levers.'
'... little machines, that went from plant to plant... cutting off the ripe fruit.'
'Recharge the batteries... in almost every town and village...'
'...a tiny, rocket-powered projectile, drove towards the mysterious bulk. It hit, exploding into a cloud of incandescent vapour.'
'The flycycles were miracles of compact design.'
These drones can provide situational awareness beyond visual line-of-sight capability.
'It resembled conventional human-operated transportation vehicles, but with one exception -- there was no driver's cabin.'
'Each one consists of a hub with many tiny spokes... On the end is a squat foot, rubber tread on the bottom...'
'A paper thin polycarbon screen unfurled silently from the top of the unit and immediately grew rigid.'
