Solar energy could solve our need for power. With time running out to come up with a solution, Desertec Foundation have unveiled their plans to develop sustainable energy sources – primarily through solar plants in the desert.
No Control
By the year 2050 we will need THREE TIMES Earth’s natural resources to sustain ourselves.
In just 36 years we will need three Earths to sustain just one! Imagine your children and grandchildren plunged into energy focused catastrophes, darkness, war? Unfathomable.
A Ray of Light
As poets use pathetic fallacy to relate emotion to weather, scientists are starting to do the same. In true dramatic fashion the sun could save our problems.
To give you an idea, at any time the sun emits roughly 3.86 x 1026 watts of energy. In basic terms, add 24 zeros to the end and you can appreciate its sheer power! On a clear day, 1m2 of earth will absorb 1KW of that energy.
A standard swimming pool, roughly 48m2, would absorb about 288KW during six hours of midday sunlight. That is the equivalent of 10 times what the average US household uses in an entire day!
So in theory, just harness the sun’s energy and put an end to this renewable energy debate?
The Plan of Action for Solar Energy
Desertec Foundation has developed some interesting plans which aim to do just this. On their diagram below, the squares represent the size that a solar energy plant would have to be to develop the energy needed today in the World, Europe and Germany respectively. Not as large as you thought?
Considering the size of inhabitable land on Earth, we could easily spare this space couldn’t we? Desertec Foundation believes deserts could be the key. Build these solar energy plants in these wastelands, out of people’s way and, without mass disruption. But who would own them? Who would have control over the Earth’s power? Is that something that one nation should control?
Putting politics to one side, Desertec have also sourced Europe’s renewable energy scope.
Risks and Consequences
The links between energy sources would be large scale connectors and inter-connectors. Such HV does pose great risk however. Monitoring and understanding the flow of energy would be critical and this is where GreyMatters comes in.
Awareness of soil resistivity or protecting these energy sources from the harmful effects of lightning would be essential. Imagine the chaos if a solar energy plant was directly struck by lightning, the immense dispersion of energy… it would be pandemonium and potentially fatal!
Although this plan is a mammoth task and still in abstract form, is renewable energy not worth our time and investment? Should saving our world not be our priority? Well, I suppose we have plenty of time right … 36 years …
It’s time to act!
What Next?
If you would like to talk to GreyMatters about our Earthing and Lightning services, or your solar energy project, then please contact us today.
Or why not schedule a FREE 30 min call to discuss a potential project or if you have any queries, by using our “need advice” widget below …
Written by: Niall Cardwell, GreyMatters
Sources and Images:
http://www.desertec.org/
http://media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Fullneed2.jpg http://www.desertec.org/fileadmin/templates/img/asia/map2.jpg
