What would it take to produce, through solar, all the energy needs of the US? Estimates say that to produce the US electricity demand of 3.7 million Gwh per year, you’d need about 48,000 square kilometers of solar sites. The cost of all those solar cells? The cost of maintenance (cleaning, breakage etc)? What would that do to energy costs? What about the jobs lost by the petrochemical labor force?
Some say they would be put on rooftops. That would increase the cost of installation as well as rooftop safety problems.
What about battery storage for night time supply? Batteries add to the costs and have a limited lifespan.
The Greenies are forgetting the practicals in implementing their green Utopia.
What about transmission losses? Is this massive solar farm one big one, or spread out in little chunks?
What about cloudy/rainy days?
What about the solar panels not on the equator/tropics? As you move farther away, the sun’s rays are less perpendicular, and hence less energy is reaching the surface. You won’t get your full 1000W/m^2 each day.
Overall, it will take much more solar in practice than it will in theory...
What about transmission losses? Is this massive solar farm one big one, or spread out in little chunks?
What about cloudy/rainy days?
What about the solar panels not on the equator/tropics? As you move farther away, the sun’s rays are less perpendicular, and hence less energy is reaching the surface. You won’t get your full 1000W/m^2 each day.
Overall, it will take much more solar in practice than it will in theory...