Take a moment to thank Nikola Tesla

[OPECsux]

You are right, the energy does have to come from somewhere, from the Ionosphere.

Ultimately the energy source providing the currents in the ionosphere is the sun. The Ionosphere is a little ways up:

(thanks Wikipedia!)

Building a 100 km high tower to get to it seems like a pain. Why not just get some solar panels? If the utilities could harness the Ionosphere in a way that provided cheap power, they would.

That said, this is one of my favorite t-shirts:

No need to build a 100km tower, it will draw the power down to it. Where's my tinfoil hat?