Power from the Sky

Princeton physicist Gerard K. O'Neill organized summer institutes to explore the question of whether the surface of Earth was the best place for industrial activities. He and his students concluded that it was not. They also came up with designs for many of the tools needed to bring their vision about.

Here O'Neill sets forth his vision of a spacefaring civilization.

Gerard O'Neill's The High Frontier

The keystone of that vision is the solar power satellite — a large orbiting installation capable of generating Gigawatts of power from the undiminished sunlight of space and beaming it back to earth.

THE HIGH FRONTIER

Gerard K. O'Neill
New York: William Morrow & Co., 1977

ISBN 0-688-03133-1

Here's a more complete review.