Notes on Class Projects

Solar Power

• need 10 billion square meters of solar panals to capture enough energy for all of US energy needs at any given moment
• 1/6 area majave desert
• this is assuming 100% efficiency- which is impossible- so multiply area by ten to make it more accurate
• furthurmore, we would need infrastructure to transfer energy
• 31.7% of New Mexico would have to be covered with solar panals to supply energy for entire US
• Only 1% of US land area would have to be allocated
• to put it into perspective the area of all paved land in US is 157,989 km^2 which is about 1.5% of US land area
• we need to only fill 2/3 of paved roads to with solar panals to provide energy for ENTIRE US- and this is with current technology
• right now we only use alternate energy to meet 1% of our energy needs

Obviously the implication of this problem is that the United States is not taking advantage of the current alternative energy technology available and should be doing more to make this technology more efficient. If the government could find a way to make pavement into solar technology/ panals think of how efficient that would be! We should try to make something that already covers a vast amount of land in the United States, like road ways, into solar panals or have then in some way absorb energy from the sun. Either way, we really need to use alternative energy to a greater extent, especially if we really want to stop being dependent on foreign energy sources and oil in general, once again it is clear that we already have the means to be energy independent, we just aren't doing it for some reason...I am constantly more and more disappointed in the government the more I learn about the capabilties of new technology and how effective it could be (only 1% of US land would need to be allocated to provide energy for the entire US!!!)