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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices
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To: Alighieri who wrote (681627)10/30/2012 3:43:22 PM
From: Tenchusatsu1 Recommendation  Read Replies (1) of 1573008
 
Al,
it has been calculated that the sunlight bathing the earth for one hour contains enough energy to meet the earth's needs for an entire year...
That is true, and it is derived straight from the 1 kW/m2 figure that I stated.

The problem, of course, is trying to capture that energy. I did some napkin math and determined that we'd have to build 100,000 square miles of solar panels with the current technology we have in order to meet the energy needs of the earth.

That's quite a lot, not only in terms of building the solar panels, but also in terms of maintaining them. It's easy for you to maintain the solar panel that powers your boathouse, but try maintaining something on the order of a square mile. Heck, we can't even maintain the 61,000 square miles of paved roads in this country.

The good news is that we don't have to meet 100% of the world's energy needs with solar. Just getting to 10% will have a significant impact on energy costs, thanks to the way the free market for energy works. But even that goal is a Herculean task, and it may not be worth it unless we're in a severe energy crisis.

Tenchusatsu
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