Originally published at: Watch: visualization of how many solar panels are required to power the world | Boing Boing
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Sounds like we should just go all in for a Dyson sphere
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Solar Panel / Solar Energy arguments commence!
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Decent attempt at a balanced coverage a really large topic in 20 minutes.
Call it an A-
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I had a less glitchy experience viewing this directly on YouTube:
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23 billion = 3 per person. Obviously that says everyone everywhere has the same needs from the Sahara to London and from Singapore to Pyongyang, but that seems low to me.
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USAmerica produces about 100 quadrilion btu’s per year of energy and has been plateau’ed around that level for the last 20 years. The annual Lawrence Livermore National Lab energy flow diagram (https://flowcharts.llnl.gov) shows that about 67% of the energy we produce does no useful work, is lost to heat, friction, and other inefficiencies. So, is this video focused on replacing annual energy production by solar or annual USEFUL energy?
PS: Rooftop solar and backyard wind reduce transmission and distribution losses of electricity greatly.
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Did you watch the video? Yes, he gets into that topic and even uses the exact same chart you linked to:
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All new or renovated buildings should be required to have x amount of solar panels built into them. That’s a start, and no more onerous than requiring, say, insulation, or wiring and plumbing that’s up to code.
And his parking lot solar shade panel idea is very low hanging fruit. Require them. In 10-12 years, no one will even think twice about solar being part of all construction, any more than we think about seat belts and air bags and catalytic converters being in all cars.
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Nice to see the Corridor Digital people using their prodigious skills towards these ends.
But my favorite CD will remain
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That’s pretty much the current law in California, and it’s mostly a good thing, although in terms of your best bang for your buck I’d bet that a large installation in a parking lot costs less per kwh of generating capacity than the equivalent number of individual home rooftop installations added together, which each require own custom design, installation, power inverter, etc and may or may not be oriented for maximum efficiency.
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I’ve never understood the main idea behind a Dyson sphere: why would any civilization, even a power-intensive one, need to capture anywhere near the full output of a star? Why not start with a ring of solar panels that’s a 1 A.U. radius? It would maintain it’s own shape if it was orbiting, and capture a ridiculous amount of energy. Is there some magical reason why a civilization would need to go all-out and make a complete sphere to capture every bit of energy?
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Keeping the cars shaded on a sunny day would probably also save a non-trivial amount of energy that would otherwise go into running the A/C after the cars had been heating up in the sun.
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So do I. But It is a cool plot device for scifi novels.
Maybe creating jobs, opportunities for cronies and keeping the cogs of the economy turning.
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New sci-fi movie plot: Orange-skinned space dictator elected under populist but poorly conceived promise to “Build the Sphere!” thus keeping illegal aliens out of the solar system.
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Along those lines, it’s pretty disappointing when rooftop solar takes priority over a neighbor’s pre-existing trees. (Trees that are actively reducing the need for the power that goes to houshlehold AC) Another situation that would be avoided with larger parking lot installations rather than everyone having their own personal setup.
If I were ever sued by my neighbor over the shade cast by the 150+ year-old oak in my backyard I’d be pissed.
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