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Any idea what proportion of Western Europe would need to be covered in solar panels and wind farms to reliably give 90% of the required kWh per day? The other 1
by JupiterMoon 11y ago
Any idea what proportion of Western Europe would need to be covered in solar panels and wind farms to reliably give 90% of the required kWh per day? The other 10% could come from tidal. But you'd need much of the potential hydro capacity to act as energy storage. (Assuming battery/hydro back up on a daily basis).
- epistasis 11y agoThere's a proposed roadmap for much of the world here: http://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/CountriesWWS.pdf http://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/Count...
- js8 11y agoNot that much, actually: http://www.techinsider.io/map-shows-solar-panels-to-power-the-earth-2015-9 http://www.techinsider.io/map-shows-solar-panels-to-power-th... It certainly seems more feasible than some feeble attempt to cover the Earth with a reflective surface as a geoengineering measure to counteract global warming.
- JupiterMoon 11y agoPromising. However naive extrapolation from that source would would be a significant underestimate of required capacity. Western Europe has significant seasonal deviations in sun. Our governments would not accept direct electrical imports from Africa. We also consume much more energy per capita that other regions.