Is It Possible To Power The Whole United States By Solar Power?
I saw a movie at school a while ago that said we could power the whole united states if we made a certain state all solar power (I can’t remember which state). Also how many watts does the united states use that way i can calculate how many solar panels would be needed.
Yes, of the 174 PW of energy that strikes the Earth 86,000 TW reaches the surface. Our global energy consumption is currently 15 TW. True, our current technology can only recover a small fraction of the energy that is available but this is the only source of energy that is greater than the amount of energy that we currently consume.
Current Photovoltaic technology only captures energy in a single wavelength determined by the valence electron shells of the semiconductors used, multiple layer cells can capture more wavelengths by using different semiconductor materials and both dye and quantum dot technology absorbs different frequencies and reemits the energy in the desired frequency. In the past few years, we’ve seen the efficiency of photovoltaics go from 10% to 42% and 65% is expected soon.
Energy can be stored in numerous ways including chemically in forms that can be used by our current infrastructure. Sandia Labs uses a solar furnace to produce methane, methanol, synthetic gasoline and synthetic diesel from CO2 and H2O.
Nano tubes promises to make artificial photosynthesis a reality and there are several other approaches that are promising.
Keep in mind that all sources of energy on Earth with the exception of nuclear and tidal are solar energy. Very inefficient solar energy and with the case of fossil fuels, accumulated over a long period of time. Also, most of the energy we use was collected by plants through photosynthesis which has a maximum efficiency of 6.6%. This means that current fossil fuels, biofuels, biomass, wave and wind energy are all forms of solar energy at efficiencies of much less than 1%. We only have to achieve minimal improvements of efficiencies in our chemical energy storage methods or other energy storage strategies to access a greater source of energy that what we currently use today.
Theoretically, we should be able to provide for our energy needs through solar power for the foreseeable future and we wouldn’t even have to change our cars and factories as the energy could be stored as synthetic liquid fuels. Solar is the only available source of energy that will allow us to grow our industrial and economic base but Solar does require a lot more research and development and the public needs to be educated as to what is possible with solar power and with chemical energy storage.
For economic reasons, other alternate energy forms such as biomass/fuels, hydro, and wind will play a part in our near future but ultimately solar is the only game in town. Note that the use of fourth generation bio-fuels from pyrolysis/gasification of biomass and with biochar carbon sequestration of the pyrolysis/gasification charcoal byproduct will actually be carbon negative and undo some of the damage we’ve already done to our environment so it’s actually necessary to have some gas guzzlers to help undo the damage.
There is a difference between being able to producing the amount of energy a country uses and actually powering it. There is enough sunlight hitting the ground in AZ that if we covered the state we could produce enough electricity to power the nation, but solar can’t be our only source, because the sun only shines during the day. We have been using a mix of power sources and we will continue to need a mix of power sources.
I put a link to electricity generation info.
the question should be is it feasible? not is it possible. yes, it is thoeritically possible, but it will never happen because it is not feasible.
electricity is measured in kilowatts (or megawatts) per hour, which introduces a time element into the equation. we may need 10 kilowatts at 4am, but need 100 at 10 am. you can get kilowatt usage information from the us dept of energy.
good luck with your calculations. with current technology, the economics of solar power makes it unattractive as an enegrey source in this or any other country at this time.
No, solar power is still not that reliable or they would have looked at it more seriously by now. It is fine for a few homes or even a supplement to power a medium size business but it hasn’t been considered for a large supplier. Whenever gas prices go up you always see a surge in the interest of solar but it always gets shot down because they can’t live up to the expectations.
NO. For any state you will need a certain amount of sunny days and a way to store all the power.That is not feasible at this time on such a large scale.I do think we should be investing in solar,for those business that can or homes that can.I think all new homes should be built with a solar grid,this will bring down the price because the market would improve.It would solve brown outs in some states I think it will be in our future though..
It may make a significant contribution to the needs of the USA, but how would such large amounts of energy be moved from State to State without excessive losses? Don’t bother to quote High Voltage or High Voltage Direct Current as these systems are very expensive and have conversion losses to consider.
I believe it’s Nebraska or Kansas.
Keep in mind, this factoid is used to illustrate a point, not to actually suggest a feasible plan.
HECK NO! Boy there were alot of other smart people here! Don’t you think if the Sun could power the entire United States they would’ve discovered that already!
Try using power of truth, goodness & love….only if you believe in something……..yourself…….solar power would be the wrong answer or solution for anyone ………..