The National Academy Of Engineering: Solar Energy Future
The earth receives extremely large amounts of energy coming from the sun. Solar energy has become a number one option for a future reliable, greener energy source. An article by the National Academy of Engineering, Make Solar Energy Economical, has proposed this issue as one of the many challenges engineers face this 21st century. The academy emphasizes, the sun’s “availability far exceeds any conceivable future energy demands. It is environmentally clean, and its energy is transmitted from the sun to the Earth free of charge”. So, we ask ourselves how much energy is actually getting to us from the sun? In his book, Physics for future presidents, Richard A. Muller exposes the magnitude of the sun’s energy by saying: “watch a sunrise and experience
the sudden warming of your face once the sun peaks above the horizon. Sun delivers enormous power density. No wonder many early peoples worshiped the sun!” (79). In the same manner, William Fox writes in his article Energy sources, “in the tropical and temperate zones, the Sun provides the equivalent of, on average, about 622 MW of energy per square mile (240 MW/km2)” (Fox). It is important to keep in mind that one MW is equivalent to one million Watts. According to the U.S Energy Information Administration, the average annual electricity consumption for a residential customer was 10,812 kWh in 2015. Which means theoretically, we would need approximately two-thirds of a mile square of solar panels to power the entire country! Muhammad Rashid, in his book Electric Renewable Energy Systems, states that “it is reported that Earth receives energy from the Sun, which is 10,000 times more than the total energy demand of the planet” (41). It is important to understand the potential of the sun’s energy to fully apply it. Overall, we observe that the energy provided by the sun is sufficient to power vast majority of the planet’s energy needs if we were able to capture it completely.
the sudden warming of your face once the sun peaks above the horizon. Sun delivers enormous power density. No wonder many early peoples worshiped the sun!” (79). In the same manner, William Fox writes in his article Energy sources, “in the tropical and temperate zones, the Sun provides the equivalent of, on average, about 622 MW of energy per square mile (240 MW/km2)” (Fox). It is important to keep in mind that one MW is equivalent to one million Watts. According to the U.S Energy Information Administration, the average annual electricity consumption for a residential customer was 10,812 kWh in 2015. Which means theoretically, we would need approximately two-thirds of a mile square of solar panels to power the entire country! Muhammad Rashid, in his book Electric Renewable Energy Systems, states that “it is reported that Earth receives energy from the Sun, which is 10,000 times more than the total energy demand of the planet” (41). It is important to understand the potential of the sun’s energy to fully apply it. Overall, we observe that the energy provided by the sun is sufficient to power vast majority of the planet’s energy needs if we were able to capture it completely.