You know that solar energy generates continuously about 6W/m sq on avg for most solar power plants considering the entire land use (more or less). To really cover every US citizen avg energy bill for entire lifestyle costs about 8kWhr*20 per day (2x the UK value). That means a land use of 160k / 6×24 sq m or about 1100 sq m or roughly 12,000 sq ft per person covered with PV, wind turbines or other solar tech. That is alot more than the kind of roof top numbers we usually think about because those do not include the equiv energy in all the fossil fuels burnt.

The US might be able to do it, Europe couldn’t do half that.

On the other hand nuclear “only” generates 1000W/ sq m. So the land use per person is about 7 sq m or about 75 sq ft which is practical for even the most densely populated rich countries. What that means is a 1GW electric plant per 150K people at $13K per head if each 1GW plant is $2B and sits on a 1 sq km. The land use is about half that of a modest home foot print.

These numbers sound astronomical because we were covered by fossil fuels which we never paid the generation costs for, only the very final refining cost. The earth and sun did the generation over millenia free of charge. With out that crutch, we will have to pay it full on for the lifestyles we have now. Europe does the same thing, half the lifestyle, half the cost.

The math is gone over in great detail in this free to own pdf textbook by Prof David Mackay called “Sustainable Energy — without the hot air”. Its so good every cabinet minister has to read it.

You know that solar energy generates continuously about 6W/m sq on avg for most solar power plants considering the entire land use (more or less). To really cover every US citizen avg energy bill for entire lifestyle costs about 8kWhr*20 per day (2x the UK value). That means a land use of 160k / 6×24 sq m or about 1100 sq m or roughly 12,000 sq ft per person covered with PV, wind turbines or other solar tech. That is alot more than the kind of roof top numbers we usually think about because those do not include the equiv energy in all the fossil fuels burnt.

The US might be able to do it, Europe couldn’t do half that.

On the other hand nuclear “only” generates 1000W/ sq m. So the land use per person is about 7 sq m or about 75 sq ft which is practical for even the most densely populated rich countries. What that means is a 1GW electric plant per 150K people at $13K per head if each 1GW plant is $2B and sits on a 1 sq km. The land use is about half that of a modest home foot print.

These numbers sound astronomical because we were covered by fossil fuels which we never paid the generation costs for, only the very final refining cost. The earth and sun did the generation over millenia free of charge. With out that crutch, we will have to pay it full on for the lifestyles we have now. Europe does the same thing, half the lifestyle, half the cost.

The math is gone over in great detail in this free to own pdf textbook by Prof David Mackay called “Sustainable Energy — without the hot air”. Its so good every cabinet minister has to read it.

You know that solar energy generates continuously about 6W/m sq on avg for most solar power plants considering the entire land use (more or less). To really cover every US citizen avg energy bill for entire lifestyle costs about 8kWhr*20 per day (2x the UK value). That means a land use of 160k / 6×24 or about 1100 sq m or roughly 12,000 sq ft per person covered with PV or other solar tech. That is alot more than the kind of roof top numbers we usually think about because those do not include the equiv energy in all the fossil fuels burnt.

The US might be able to do it, Europe couldn’t do half that.

On the other hand nuclear “only” generates 1000W/ sq m. So the land use per person is about 7 sq m or about 70 sq ft which is practical for even the most densely populated rich countries. What that means is a 1GW electric plant per 150K people at $13K per head if each 1GW plant is $2B and sits on a 1 sq km.

These numbers sound astronomical because we were covered by fossil fuels which we never paid the generation costs for, only the very final refining cost. The earth and sun did the generation over millenia. With out that crutch, we will have to pay it full on for the lifestyles we have now. Europe does the same thing, half the lifestyle, half the cost.

The math is gone over in great detail in this free to own pdf textbook by Prof David Mackay called “Sustainable Energy — without the hot air”.

You know that solar energy generates continuously about 6W/m sq on avg for most solar power plants considering the entire land use (more or less). To really cover every US citizen avg energy bill for entire lifestyle costs about 8kWhr*20 per day (2x the UK value). That means a land use of 160k / 6×24 or about 1100 sq m or roughly 12,000 sq ft per person covered with PV or other solar tech. That is alot more than the kind of roof top numbers we usually think about because those do not include the equiv energy in all the fossil fuels burnt.

The US might be able to do it, Europe couldn’t do half that.

On the other hand nuclear “only” generates 1000W/ sq m. So the land use per person is about 7 sq m or about 70 sq ft which is practical for even the most densely populated rich countries. What that means is a 1GW electric plant per 150K people at $13K per head if each 1GW plant is $2B and sits on a 1 sq km.

These numbers sound astronomical because we were covered by fossil fuels which we never paid the generation costs for, only the very final refining cost. The earth and sun did the generation over millenia. With out that crutch, we will have to pay it full on for the lifestyles we have now. Europe does the same thing, half the lifestyle, half the cost.

The math is gone over in great detail in this free to own pdf textbook by Prof David Mackay called “Sustainable Energy — without the hot air”.