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Interesting proposal from Scientific American (you know that biased liberal rag that supports the global warming "hypothesis" with facts) for solar stations in the southwest to provide power to the entire US.
Interesting proposal from Scientific American (you know that biased liberal rag that supports the global warming "hypothesis" with facts) for solar stations in the southwest to provide power to the entire US.
1 sq mile is around 28million square feet. if each panel is 10 sq ft that means that every sq mile would take 2.8million panels. 30000sq miles = 84 000 000 000 solar panels.
1 sq mile is around 28million square feet. if each panel is 10 sq ft that means that every sq mile would take 2.8million panels. 30000sq miles = 84 000 000 000 solar panels.
great idea!
Yeah, instead of wind turbines, we should cover a ton of land area! If people don't like wind turbines because a few birds might die, then why would they go for covering a bunch of land with solar panels?
1 sq mile is around 28million square feet. if each panel is 10 sq ft that means that every sq mile would take 2.8million panels. 30000sq miles = 84 000 000 000 solar panels.
great idea!
the panels are 3' x 5' which makes it 15 sqft. per panel. using the 200 watt panels you would need 5 panels to equal 1 kw, your average hosehold uses between 4-6 kw's worth of energy.
the panels are 3' x 5' which makes it 15 sqft. per panel. using the 200 watt panels you would need 5 panels to equal 1 kw, your average hosehold uses between 4-6 kw's worth of energy.
he was talking about solar transporting the nation. personally i have no problem with solar. when people however start talking about converting 30000 sq miles into a solar gen facility then we can safely assume that they're living in dreamland. besides i'm not toatlly convinced of the efficiency of photovoltaics. they require tons of energy to manufacture.
solar thermal on the other hand is a different story. it's a highly efficient way to heat water and your household. it works in conjunction with most systems, is cheap to install and is guaranteed to save you energy and money
he was talking about solar transporting the nation. personally i have no problem with solar. when people however start talking about converting 30000 sq miles into a solar gen facility then we can safely assume that they're living in dreamland. besides i'm not toatlly convinced of the efficiency of photovoltaics. they require tons of energy to manufacture.
solar thermal on the other hand is a different story. it's a highly efficient way to heat water and your household. it works in conjunction with most systems, is cheap to install and is guaranteed to save you energy and money
I was just correcting the size of the panels and got off on a tangent.
Currently living overseas here, what they have been doing here the past few yrs is actually pretty interesting.
The govt gives you special tax cuts/ financial support if you built or rebuilt a house and use the roof space to cover with solar panels. So far this has been reallyyyy successful here and with the avg roof here you actually wind up not only powering your own home, but more often then not selling the access power of it back to the govt.
I think that's pretty neat and if the same support was taking place in the US to the extent they do here, I could see a lot homeowners doing this too. And really who cares what covers your roof!?
Please note that pole mounted solar collectors produce shade in the desert. When they (?) built a solar powered well in Mali (?) the villagers started renting shade to the craftsmen and selling the water.
The whole 30K square miles thing was either total BS, or a mistake in the statement. The PR end of the Renewable Energy field is having real problems keeping BS out recently.
On large scale Solar Thermal (MUCH cheaper than PV, btw) the output is at or over 250 kW per acre -- or about 180 MW per square mile.
Generally accepted numbers come out to about 100 square miles carrying the present entire US electrical load. Make that about 3 or 4 times more, and it would cover the ground transportation, as well.
GregW also makes a very astute observation that duel use (such as large roofing or shelters) can be placed in under such equipment, which also cuts down transmission costs and losses.
On large scale Solar Thermal (MUCH cheaper than PV, btw) the output is at or over 250 kW per acre -- or about 180 MW per square mile.
Generally accepted numbers come out to about 100 square miles carrying the present entire US electrical load. Make that about 3 or 4 times more, and it would cover the ground transportation, as well.
Assuming solar plants operate 12 hours a day, 365 days a year, then they would have to produce 6.8 TW(6.8*10^12 W) of power. At 180 MW (180*10^6 W) per square mile, that translates into over 37,000 square miles of solar panels.
That would be almost all of the land mass in Virginia.
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If people don't like wind turbines because a few birds might die, then why would they go for covering a bunch of land with solar panels?
