The effect would be to raise the surface temperature of the Earth when all the waste heat is radiated back into space. The climate effects would be similar to releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The technology to connect an orbiting solar collector to users on the ground safely and reliably is not yet available.

Why put it in orbit when there are large desert areas on the surface just waiting to be exploited?

'...The effect would be to raise the surface temperature of the Earth when all the waste heat is radiated back into space..."

...Unless of course the solar panels were in the form of a screen or lattice and placed between the earth and sun, shading the earth from a portion of the solar exposure.

Anyway, if, as you say, 'ALL the waste heat were radiated back into space', then the waste heat wouldn't affect the surface temperature after all, would it.

<...Unless of course the solar panels were in the form of a screen or lattice and placed between the earth and sun, shading the earth from a portion of the solar exposure....>

It is not possible to place an object in a fixed position between the Earth and the Sun without expending energy in order to keep it there.

There is little point in shading the Earth with a solar collector in space. It would be more practicable and more desirable to use the incoming radiation at the surface to better effect.

<...the waste heat wouldn't affect the surface temperature after all...>

The surface area of the Earth is more-or-less fixed. If the incoming energy is to be increased from some orbiting solar collector then the only way that it can be released to space by radiation after use is for the surface temperature to increase.

Q=kA(T₂⁴-T₁⁴)

Does that equation look familiar?

Has anybody thought to combine a PV cell and a thermoelectric generator? Space sounds like the perfect enviroment for this combo- blazing hot on the sunny side, incredibly cold on the shady side. Would the operation of the thermoelectric part of the cell help cool the PV side?

Yes you can place solar panels in space and HARVEST the power for use on earth. http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/SpaceSettlement/ Is a sight where you can see practical applications of this. SSDW Stuttgart also has a similar web page covering solar power transmission to earth. Werner Von Braun also covered this in his space settlement discussions. Tesla also covered wireless power transmission and there are numerous youtube videos of wireless transmission of power.

The people that say the transmission of power to Earth from space will increase the heating of the earth beyond the green house effect, in my opinion, using short term theories and speculation. IF you provide enough power from space to shut down the hydrocarbon burning power plants, then you will LOWER the the greenhouse effect because you are removing a major contributor of green house gases. It is possible that in the VERY long term power transfer from space may be the new major greenhouse contributor BUT it is a LOAD better than Coal power plants and similar power generation on Earth.

When we are able to build a functional space elevator we would be able to transmit power to earth by way of the elevator line and again reduce a major greenhouse contributor. As the space elevator and solar power stations will be available about the same time thanks to people who would rather see man stagnate here on earth.