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non-trivial percentages of the planet in solar panels. 0.1% of the earth's surface area to match current total energy requirements. Which sounds tiny. Or the s
by elektromekatron 11y ago
non-trivial percentages of the planet in solar panels.
0.1% of the earth's surface area to match current total energy requirements. Which sounds tiny. Or the same area as Spain, which sounds huge.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoOr space-based solar and lasers! Which can get as large as you like and not destroy ecologies the size of Spain. And works 24 hrs a day, not 12.
- elektromekatron 11y agoWell, you would split it up a bit, rather than bulldozing an ecology the size of Spain. Would probably be quicker to roll out than the space based version and there are grid scale storage technologies available which might be relatively expensive, but are still orders of magnitude cheaper than solving the same problem by going into orbit. In the long run I think orbital solar looks promising, but there is a lot more work left to do there than with implementing it at ground level.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoAnd I believe the opposite. Remember power generation also has to be delivered, so solar farms will want to be near cities. There's not a lot of room, it will take more land that the freeway system! And that took decades to seize the land through eminent domain.
- elektromekatron 11y agoThe opposite of which bit?
- iwwr 11y agoOrbital solar starts to make sense when you need a collection area that's larger than what's feasible for Earth and currently Earth is not scarce as far as available surface area :)
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoIt is, near cities where the energy has to be generated. And its hard to procure because of eminent domain fights, environmental impact statements and high costs.
- elektromekatron 11y agoGiven we are in a world of 500 km underwater interconnects and synchronous grids that span up to eight time zones, I am not sure why you think electricity needs to be generated right next to cities. Though, that said, existing urban rooftops are over a third of the required area to power the world, so you might as well stick some there while you are at it.
- tired_man 11y agoTransmitting electricity is quite a bit different from transmitting bytes. That's the main reason we are using Alternating Current rather than Direct Current to power virtually everything.
- elektromekatron 11y agoI'm not talking about data cable. Was referring to NorNed, a 500km HVDC 700MW interconnect between the Netherlands and Norway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NorNed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NorNed, and the Russian power grid IPS/UPS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPS/UPS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPS/UPS edit - the limits to how far you can push transmission are very high indeed. For instance, here's a study from 1984 that puts an upper limit on AC at 3000 - 4000km and for DC at 7000km. http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/ph240/sell1/docs/paris.pdf http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/ph240/sell1/docs/pari...
- tired_man 11y agoMan, my working knowledge is really outdated.
- trhway 11y agoSahara desert is big :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Africa_satellite_orthographic.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Africa_satellite_orthogra... Shade from big solar panel installs may even create quasi-mini-oasises for animals/plants.