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To produce all the energy needed by humans, only a minuscule part of the desert has to be covered - the environmental aspects would be pretty neglectable. The p
by _ph_ 11y ago
To produce all the energy needed by humans, only a minuscule part of the desert has to be covered - the environmental aspects would be pretty neglectable. The pro of using the Sahara would of course be efficiency, the downside are politics and transporting the energy produced to somewhere where it can be used.
- agumonkey 11y agoAre the energy loss from transport far lower than the benefits of Saraha in terms of light input ?
- _ph_ 11y agoA high voltage DC line should have less losses than the energy gained by moving south. Furthermore, one can pretty much rely on the Sahara sky not being clouded, which is probably more important as you then can rely on having the same energy output every day. The let-down is that it would cost billions to put the necessary lines in place. Putting the solar farms into the south of Spain is likely to be more cost-effective. The nice thing about photovoltaics though is, that there is no minimum size for a plant. This means, we could do both in parallel - extend European solar plants and set up some in Africa.
- agumonkey 11y agoYeah, the idea of trying on Spain and Greece seems great. Simpler politically and economically.