As oil supplies dwindle and people scream as their gas-guzzling SUV’s cost more and more to drive to soccer practice, people keep talking about alternative energies such as Solar or Wind-power. Just how much real-estate would we have to dedicate to convert all of mankind to Solar or Wind based power? Over at Land Art Generator, they ran some numbers and generated the following infographics.
According to the US Department of Energy (Energy Information Administration), the world consumption of energy in all of its forms (barrels of petroleum, cubic meters of natural gas, watts of hydro power, etc.) is projected to reach 678 quadrillion Btu (or 7.15 exajoules) by 2030 – a 44% increase over 2008 levels (levels for 1980 were 283 quadrillion Btu and we stand at around 500 quadrillion Btu today).
I wonder what surface area would be required and what type of infrastructural investment would be required to supply that amount of power by using only solar panels. To create fuel that can be used in vehicles and equipment I am assuming that some of the electricity generated would be used to create hydrogen. We should all start wondering about these things since we will have really no other choice* by the turn of the next century.
