We can run our world on hope.
The amounts of solar energy hitting the earth everyday is staggering more than enough for all of humanity at American standard’s of energy use.
“The potential is enormous, says MIT physics professor Washington Taylor, who co-teaches a course on the physics of energy. A total of 173,000 terawatts (trillions of watts) of solar energy strikes the Earth continuously. That’s more than 10,000 times the world’s total energy use. And that energy is completely renewable — at least, for the lifetime of the sun. “It’s finite, but we’re talking billions of years,” Taylor says.”
“Solar thermal systems covering 10 percent of the world’s deserts — about 1.5 percent of the planet’s total land area — could generate about 15 terawatts of energy, given a total efficiency of 2 percent. This amount is roughly equal to the projected growth in worldwide energy demand over the next half-century.”
https://news.mit.edu/2011/energy-scale-part3-1026
Tesla and it’s Chinese partner’s have cross $100 leg and also $80 kWh
The avg European home uses 10kWh per day that’s one third as much as Americans but even at 30 kWh a day only half needs to be stored for night time most days. 80*30 is $2400 for a days storage keeping 3 on hand would be prudent so $7200 in cells for three full summer days and nearly a week and half in winter as solar thermal heat works in winter time regardless of outside temps with evacuated tube collectors.
Add in panels for 10,000 watts and a 10,000 watts inverter both of which can be had today for 15 cents per watt and 20 cents per watt respectively. $3500 in panels and inverters. A install crew of 3 guys at $12 he and one Forman at $18 can do the install in two days. All in $15000 one can be grid free today. Given the average home price of $475,000 in the used market in Texas higher in many states. New homes are averaging above 500K in Texas $15,000 on the mortgage is penny’s on the dollar over a 30 year more. The panels have a 25 year capacity warranty as do the inverters. Both are covered under home owners insurances, panels give a discount on the RCV roof.rate at that. The.future is solar it’s happening now and will.increase in pace and scope as battery costs continue to plummet and.cycle life increases. Tesla cells.Will do 4000 full DOD cycles to 80% and another 4000 to 50% in a second life use environment. That’s 4000 three hundred mile.drive cycles followed by 4000 day night cycles of.full discharge most night cycles would be half discharge or less so double that number.