How much energy could solar energy ideally produce??

Question

Is it 2 times the worlds demand, 3 times. Please indicate your source

Answer 1

I was not going to answer this question but I seen the above post. The statement shows he/she don't know anything about Solar power. Or is promoting nuclear power. I can see how someone could have a mis-guided ideal like that if they have been programed to promote something. But most will take the time to read up on the products they are bad mouthing first. Not much of the statement from the above post was true, if any of it was.

As far as your question goes I have read but do not remember where I found it. I don’t think it said anything about if solar energy could supply the whole world. They were talking more in the line of the state of Arizona and New Mexico supplying the USA only. Sure sounded like it could be done. But with out proof it is just gossip.

So lets look at the USA just trying to supply its self with solar electric only. Well nope it can not be done without a bunch of batteries placed some where. You have to understand that it is not raining and cloudy over the whole USA all at the same time unless it is night time. This is where Wind and Hydro electric comes in.

Sure there is a place for a nuke power plant but only for a backup system to help out Solar, Hydro and Air. But should be very very limited and controlled. No need to contaminate our planet any more then it already is just to put some extra cash in some ones pocket for a product we really do not need. Every so many years radiation starts leaking from the storage bunkers and our taxes had to clean it up. Radiation is something that takes thousands of years for the planet to absorb. The more we make the more we have and the more our great, great, great, great grand kids have to deal with. That is one option that should be removed from the table. Nuclear waste is not recyclable at all or in anyway. It is just simply waste and a hazard.

If you can stop and think for a minute about the fact that one house can completely supply their own electrical needs and heating with no electric grid help at all and no gas pipes running to their home. It is done all the time.

I wanted to say that I have solar panels and I don't remember ever having to wash them. The dust blows off and when it rains it washes off anything left. not a problem at all.

The maintenance required is very minim if you use GEL batteries and did you know that the whole battery is recyclable? When you buy new batteries you sell your old ones to the same store or use them as a core for a better price on the new batteries. They will melt down the lead and reuse it and filter the acid out of the water and use both.. Guess what the plastic battery case is recyclable as well. No waste at all.

Now that we have decided that Nukes are out of the question and not a requirement in anyway. And that batteries are not a hazard and are completely recyclable. Lets focus on how to use the other renewable powers a little better.

A couple of easy things to do is either you can set your home up standalone or it can be grid tied. Both have promise. Grid tie is how it will end up because on days when your system is not providing enough power to take care of your needs I could be out of town and my system is not being used at all. So it is just feeding the solar electric back into the grid. Then in the next state over they are having bright sunny days and no one is using all the solar electric they are making so it is all going in the grid to help out other states that have cloudy skys. This is currently being doe as well as people living off the grid.

The grid tie method will even help factories who are not producing enough power to cover their requirements as well. You know someone will build wind and sun farms to make a profit as well. The hydrodams with a little help from wind mills could keep things running through the night. If not there is the place for the hazardous nuclear plants if needed.

So what I am trying to say is YES home owners could provide all the power required for their needs and have extra left over. Only problem is the Big money guys like Nuclear, Coal and Petroleum investors have not found a good way to make money from the public if we were to go renewable or solar power. So it is being fought all the way.

You can make your own hydrogen very easily is why we are not off gas yet. If you can make your own from water and your car will run from it then the big boys can’t make any money so it is not going to be very easy to get the concept going when big money is keeping it stomped down. It was proven back in the 1960’s that a car will run on water.

So yes it can be done but no it will not be easy to get there.

Answer 2

Solar energy is a function of several things. The area for solar panels, the solar gain for a given area and the efficiency of the panels you are using. Ideally, you have to figure an average of no more than 200 btu/hr/square foot with maximum of no more than 200 solar days of ten hours full potential a year and that is very optimistic. The efficiency is going to depend on exactly what you are going to use solar power for, electrical power has an efficiency of around 10%.

Given the above engineering limitations you need to consider where you are going to place your collector panels and your storage. The panels for any facility are going to need many times the area of that facility in solor panel area to provide the needed power. That creates quite a problem as most societies are reluctant to cover large swaths of ground with huge arrays of solar panels and the environmental impact is going to be tremendous. You also need to think about maintenence as the solar panels get dusty and that reduces the effectiveness of the panels so they will have to be cleaned on a regular basis.

The type of storage is important too. Are you storing thermal energy or electrical? In either case you are going to need large storage reservoirs but the thermal storage can be buried underground more effectively with less environmental impact. Batteries require more maintenence and release hydrogen gas which is explosive. There is also the environmental impact of the batteries themselve, you have to build them and later dispose of them and both of those functions are environmentally negative.

Solar is a good alternative energy source under very limited situations even if you have the most efficient of buildings. Storage and mechanical issues are considerable and the impact on the environment is massive when you talk about building solar arrays large enough to power even a small community. Eventually we are going to figure out how to collect that energy from space and beam it down which will reduce one of the issues but not all.

Like it or not, the best prospect for our energy needs, when you consider all the facts, is nucleur energy. It is less polluting, cleaner and more cost effective than any of the alternatives. As we learn more, reactors will become better still and eventually we will learn how to harness the power of fussion.

All I'm telling you is that solar energy is not the answer for the worlds power needs, it might supply a fraction of our needs one day but not a big one.