how many solar panels and windmills could the trillion or so dollars we have spent in Iraq have built?
Based on Congressman John Murtha's daily cost figures of the Iraq War, here's how many homes could be electrified with solar:
For the annual cost of the Iraq War ($343,000,000 per day / $125,000,000,000 per year), 3,557,000 homes could be electrified with 4kW solar electric systems each year, or 9,800 per day installed, free. And if people paid for them on 15 year payment plans, millions more could be financed.
Sources and Calculations:
*Congressman Murtha on the daily cost of the War in Iraq: murtha.house.gov.
*$8.75 per Watt Installed is current cost of residential PV systems.
*4,000 Watt Solar System installed is $35,000 (20 200 Watt Modules)
*$343,000,000 / $35,000 = 9,800 Residential Solar Systems Per Day
*$125,000,000,000 / $35,000 = 3,577,000 Residential Solar Systems Per Year
*3,577,000 Residential Solar Systems = 14,308,000 KW Installed per Year
*System Size (KWp) - 14,308,000 KW (TOTAL Installed in One Year)
*Hours of "Peak" Sun per Day - 4.47 (From NOAA Database)
*Conversion Efficiency - 0.77 (Industry standard assumption)
*KW-Hrs/Day - 49,246,705.20 (System size x hours/day x efficiency)
*KW-Hrs/Year - 17,975,047,398 (KW-Hrs per day x 365 days/year)
*MW-Hrs/Year - 17,975,047.40 (KW-Hrs per year/1000)
*Solar Electricity KW-Hrs produced over 30 Years - 539,251,421,940 (Solar KW-Hrs x 30 Years)
Fossil Fuel Air Pollutants Avoided by Converting One Year of Iraq War Funding to Residential PV Systems:
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) (greenhouse gas)
-Fossil Fuel Lbs/MWH = 1975.21
-PV Power MWH/Yr = 17,975,047.40
-Pollutants Avoided per Year (Lbs) = 35,504,493,371
-Pollutants Avoided per Year (Tons) 17,752,247
-Pollutants Avoided over 30 Years (Lbs) = 1,065,134,801,130
-Pollutants Avoided over 30 Year (Tons) 532,567,401
Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) (acid rain)
-Fossil Fuel Lbs/MWH = 14.05
-PV Power MWH/Yr = 17,975,047.40
-Pollutants Avoided per Year (Lbs) = 252,549,416
-Pollutants Avoided per Year (Tons) 126,275
-Pollutants Avoided over 30 Years (Lbs) = 7,576,482,478
-Pollutants Avoided over 30 Year (Tons) 3,788,241
Nitrogen Oxides (NOX) (ozone/smog)
-Fossil Fuel Lbs/MWH = 4.79
-PV Power MWH/Yr = 17,975,047.40
-Pollutants Avoided per Year (Lbs) = 86,100,477
-Pollutants Avoided per Year (Tons) 43,050
-Pollutants Avoided over 30 Years (Lbs) = 2,583,014,311
-Pollutants Avoided over 30 Year (Tons) 1,291,507
* $8.75 per Watt is the current cost of a typical residential PV system. If the total market for residential PV was $125 Billion annually, the per system cost of PV would undoubtedly be reduced to 1/3rd of the current cost or less!
** At 1/3rd of the current PV system cost ($11,667), approximately 10,731,000 residential PV systems could be installed for the cost of one year of the Iraq war.
I thank the folks at Standard Solar Inc. for putting these numbers together for me to use.
Perpetual Energy on February 14, 2008 - 9:05pm |
theoildrum.com |
