3 ms·
Global energy use is ~20 TW. Say panels generate ~50 W/m2 average (about the value of my home solar in CA after all losses and time averages.) So, you need 20e1
by GlibMonkeyDeath 3y ago
Global energy use is ~20 TW. Say panels generate ~50 W/m2 average (about the value of my home solar in CA after all losses and time averages.) So, you need 20e12/50 m2 = 0.4e12 m2 ~ 400,000 km2. Area of Sahara = 9.2 M km2, so 4.3% of the Sahara to satisfy world-wide energy needs with just solar.
To give you an idea of the climate impact, according to the World Bank website, all urban areas on Earth total to ~2 M km2. So we have already built at least 5x the area of this imaginary solar array.