After seeing how many nukes would it take to obliterate humanity instantly, I wanted some good news. Like, how many solar panels would it take to power the entire world? The entire surface of Africa, maybe? Actually, it’s surprisingly less.
Just 496,905 square kilometres. That’s less than the surface of Spain (504,030 square kilometres) covered with solar panels, distributed across deserts and areas with almost 24/7 sun, all year around.
Lucas
September 2, 2009 at 7:43 AM
Interesting. Would be interested in knowing the statistics and data behind this assumption.
Report PermalinkStevoTheDevo
September 2, 2009 at 7:59 AM
Hmmm, 24/7 sun…
Report PermalinkSo who’s shipping all these panels from South to North Pole then back again every 6 months then?
Or maybe we should install them on the surface of the sun where there’s guaranteed 24/7 sun!
Ten
September 2, 2009 at 9:06 AM
if you actually bothered to look at the map stevethedevo (i think your name is an indication of your intelligence level) you would notice that neither of the poles had any panels on them. as for your other suggestion, i volunteer you to take those panels straight to the sun, then you can stay there and maintain them, the world would be a better place
Report PermalinkGsta
September 2, 2009 at 9:08 AM
Transmission losses?
Report PermalinkRhys
September 2, 2009 at 10:16 AM
So does it take into account the water required to clean the panels given they are in a desert? Because you’d need almost that many solar panels to power the RO plants to generate the water just to clean them.
Dirty panels produce exponentially less power.
Report PermalinkCaptain Pajama Shark
September 2, 2009 at 1:59 PM
@Gsta,
Report PermalinkDon’t you mean Owl Club losses?
Mel
April 16, 2011 at 1:48 PM
The problem is the oil used in their construction. They take more energy to make than they will ever produce in their lifetime. Also their disposal once they are finished with. Plastic takes about 1000 years to break down.
Report PermalinkMel