re: #194 Rightwingconspirator

Isn’t there a problem with a sheer lack of wattage at ground level? Even if solar panels captured more as electricity it’s not a lot. I forget exactly but its a lot of square yards to power a blow dryer.

At best, a square meter patch of ground receives around 600 watts. At best. Averaged over 24 hours, it’s more like 125 watts. Solar panels are somewhere in the neighborhood of 10% - 15% efficient, so at best you’re going to average around 25 watts per square meter - about enough to run a nightlight. You’ll do better at high noon - on a clear day in summertime you might be able to pull 100 watts per square meter - better, but still nowhere near enough to run your hair dryer.

And who needs a hair dryer at noon? Which points up a larger problem: storage, which is enormously inefficient and expensive at the moment, with no good solutions in sight.

Solar makes for a useful supplement to some other form of power that’s actually cheap and reliable, but you’re correct: there just isn’t enough wattage per square meter to make it viable as an electricity source. It’s best use, at least on a residential level, is as a heating supplement. Solar heating systems, particularly passive ones, can make a significant dent in external energy consumption.

But you’re still going to need a source of electricity that’s actually workable.