Powersat by Ben Bova (Review).

The head of the Astro Corporation is determined to bring alternative energy to Earth in the form of a Power Satellite that captures solar energy and beems it down to the earth at 10 gigawatts at a time. His struggle with terrorists in the Mid-East through financiers that have ulterior motives, makes the story gripping and believable. Assuming that what seems fictional could quite happen given the scientific know-how, and the Technology. This book was a good mix of Science, Ecology, Economical Ideas and Politics, and how they all come together to prove that there is a future in independent and alternative energy. To be independent of the middle-east and their contibution to the oil industry, sends ideas to my mind the possibilities of lowering the price of gas, investing in these alternative engergies, and keeping the U.S. only dependent on domestic sources of energy. What may seem to be insanely fictional yet believable, who knows what is sanely realistic without literature like this to give you hope.