Tesla CEO Elon Musk underlined the potential of photo voltaic power by delving into what it may do for human life. The billionaire was repeating an thought he had shared method again in June 2022.
What Happened: The quantity of photo voltaic power obtained by the Earth can be ample to energy a civilization that’s 100 occasions bigger than ours, Musk stated whereas quote-tweeting a tweet by certainly one of his followers going by Twitter deal with @Rainmaker1973.
@Rainmaker1973’s tweet stated the world’s present demand for energy might be happy by overlaying 1.2% of the Sahara Desert with photo voltaic panels, attributing the deduction to a theoretical calculation. He shared hyperlinks to 2 information tales that expounded on photo voltaic power’s potential.
A 2017 story carried by “Power Technology” entitled “The Sahara: a solar battery for Europe” detailed a small U.Ok. firm named TuNur, which utilized to the Tunisian authorities to start development of a 4.5 Gigawatt concentrated solar energy challenge within the Sahara Desert. If profitable, the power generated might be transported via underground cables to supply Europe with a brand new carbon-free, various baseload energy, based on the article.
A current Forbes story famous that TuNur and Elmed (a proposed 600 MW undersea high-voltage direct present interconnector) in Tunisia look to ship clear electrical energy to Europe via Italy. TuNur’s last funding choice is due in 2024, it added.
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How The Math Works: The second hyperlink shared by @Rainmaker1973 was to a 2016 Forbes story, which included a solution by Berkeley professor Mehran Moalem to a query on Quora. The professor stated the world’s power utilization, together with each renewable and non-renewable sources, in 2015 was 13,000 million tons of oil equal, or MTOE, translating to 17.3 Terawatts of steady energy.
If a 43,000 sq. miles space of the earth is roofed by photo voltaic panels, it could present greater than 17.4 TW energy. If the Great Sahara Desert, which receives greater than 12 hours of daylight a day, is tapped, simply 1.2% of it’s ample to cowl the power wants of the world. The whole space of the desert is 3.6 million sq. miles.
Those trying to put money into the way forward for photo voltaic know-how can select from a wide range of ETFs, together with Invesco Solar ETF TAN and iShares Global Clean Energy ETF ICLN.
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