Midpack
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I just ran across this, but evidently Elon Musk has been saying it for several years. I don’t know how to verify it it’s true or not, and didn’t find a source online to verify, but it sounds plausible to me. As large and real as our power needs are, they’re trivial in the grand scheme.
I’d also like to check this claim. I’ve seen other discussions that suggest we’d need huge amounts of land if we powered the world with wind, solar and battery farms with today’s tech at least. Musk says otherwise.
Though as I read this, if I’m doing the math right it says the US would need an area 196 miles by 196 miles to be powered with nothing but solar. Same OOM and Musk is probably using different assumptions re: battery storage.
https://landartgenerator.org/blagi/archives/127
The Earth is almost entirely solar-powered today, in the sense that the sun is the only thing that keeps us from being at the temperature of cosmic background radiation, which is 3 degrees above absolute zero,” Musk explained. “The amount of energy that reaches us from the sun is tremendous. It’s 99%+ of all the energy that Earth has. People talk about fusion … but the sun is a giant fusion reactor in the sky. It’s really reliable. It comes up every day. If it doesn’t, we’ve got bigger problems.”Well, let’s squeeze just one more juicy post out of that orange. Elon also described, in simple and engaging language, how solar energy will power the world of the future. He began by noting that, in a sense, we already live in a solar-powered world.
I’d also like to check this claim. I’ve seen other discussions that suggest we’d need huge amounts of land if we powered the world with wind, solar and battery farms with today’s tech at least. Musk says otherwise.
Just how many of those solar panels would be needed to supply America’s energy needs? “If you wanted to power the entire United States with solar panels, it would take a fairly small corner of Nevada or Texas or Utah; you only need about 100 miles by 100 miles,” Musk said. “The batteries you need to store the energy, so you have 24/7 power, is 1 mile by 1 mile. One square mile.”
Though as I read this, if I’m doing the math right it says the US would need an area 196 miles by 196 miles to be powered with nothing but solar. Same OOM and Musk is probably using different assumptions re: battery storage.
https://landartgenerator.org/blagi/archives/127
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