RE: How Much Solar Energy Is There?
Thanks! Some people find the term Dyson Swarm less confusing, but it is worth noting that a swarm like "virtual structure" in the rough shape of a sphere is actually what "Dyson Sphere" was originally meant to refer to. The idea of a single solid structure (the other possible use of the term, used in some science fiction sources) is a pretty far fetched one. Freeman Dyson wasn't actually talking about that when he first proposed the thought experiment, instead he was thinking of ordinary space colonies with solar collectors on them, the result of a thousand years or so of population growth. The Dyson Swarm I've described here is the result of a few decades of robotic "population" growth, and would be a bit smaller than Dyson's idea because I suggest basing it closer to the Sun.