air-on

I read an interesting fact today...

“In a given hour, more energy from sunlight strikes the earth than the entire planet consumes in a year"

[URL=http://img180.imageshack.us/i/solar3.jpg/][IMG]http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/3879/solar3.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Basically means that if we covered the entire earth in solar panels that had the ability to absorb 100% of the energy, we could get all of the power that we need for the year in just 1 hour.

Obviously that's not feasible for many reasons. We all have to live in the dark under the solar panels for this to happen. And what about the oceans! But think about it. There are 8,760 hours in the year. So if you had 100% efficient solar panels on 100% of the year for the entire year, you'd have 8,760x more energy than you really need. So now assume that 10% efficient solar panels are the norm and figure you could feasibly put solar panels on 0.5% of the world (rooftops, windows, fields, etc). You'd still have 4.4x more power than we currently use. Run the math and the formula says that we would need 10% efficient solar panels put on just 0.11% of the earth to be able to produce 100% of the world's energy needs from the sun. If we find ways to cheaply produce more efficient solar panels, the amount that we need goes down. I honestly have no idea how much space 0.11% of the earth is, but right now, it seems like the limiting factor is cost. If I had my entire roof covered in panels, I know that my house would produce more energy than I use (rough math says 2-3 times as much as I use at home). But it is too expensive right now. Just waiting for the price to come down and I'll do my share!