4 ms·
That number sounds high. I make it about 300W for Earth. http://heliosphan.org/solarenergy.html http://heliosphan.org/solarenergy.html
by redcalx 9y ago
That number sounds high. I make it about 300W for Earth.
http://heliosphan.org/solarenergy.html http://heliosphan.org/solarenergy.html
- snerbles 9y agoI should have clarified - this is raw irradiance, not the power you'd see from a photovoltaic cell.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- redcalx 9y agoAhh, I forgot that my calc was based on an average for the Earth's surface - so including high latitudes and day/night. On that basis I figure our numbers broadly agree.
- dTal 9y ago1.4 KW is right: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_irradiance#Earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_irradiance#Earth It's an unusual methodology to begin by looking up the power output of the sun, which is worked out using the reverse of your calculation. Might you have erroneously divided out the entire of Earth's surface area (which is 4 times the area of a circle the size of the Earth)?
- redcalx 9y agoYeh I forgot that's what I did, it was a while ago now, and I admit the average over entire surface area isn't a very useful number :)
- comicjk 9y agoDon't sweat it, it's a common mistake. IIRC some French physicists used the same surface area calculation to try to disprove global warming, for which they got the nickname "knights of the flat earth".