Eschew Obfuscation: Cost of a Solar Nation

Cost of a Solar Nation

Max Dunn — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:36:00 -0700

How much would it cost to build a solar nation? Here are some interesting numbers:

The IEA estimates that it will take a worldwide investment of $5.4 trillion dollars in oil exploration and development in order to meet the demand for oil in 2030, if oil usage continues to grow at its current rate. Since the U.S. uses about 25% of the worlds oil, our cost would be about $1.35 trillion.

Scientific American estimates that if we provide less than a third of this amount as a subsidy – $420 billion – then we can build a solar collection, storage and distribution system that would provide 69% of America’s electricity and 35% of it’s total energy by 2050.

So, can anyone say that building a solar nation is too expensive?

"Cost of a Solar Nation" by Max Dunn

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 17:34:27 -0700

Interestingly, someone mentioned to me today that he had heard that a square 100 miles on a side would provide enough electricity for the entire U.S.

The Scientific American article actually calculates about 80 miles on a side would do the trick. It is amazing to me that we could power our country with such a relatively little area of solar power!

"Cost of a Solar Nation" by Max Dunn

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 17:25:34 -0700

You got me on the math details – I tried to slide that one in without explanation. :-)

The $5.4T is world-wide expense, while the $420B is only for the U.S. Since the U.S. uses 22mbd versus 86mbd for the rest of the world, we use about 25% of its oil. So that is where this unexplained factor came from. I updated the post to make this more clear.

"Cost of a Solar Nation" by J.R.

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 12:00:39 -0700

Have you heard we could generate enough electricity for the whole US from a solar array in the desert built on a square parcel of land 100 miles on each side? Also, I heard that transmission losses from coast to coast were less than 10%, so it might actually be feasible to do all the generation in the Southwest.

"Cost of a Solar Nation" by J.R.

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 11:58:44 -0700

You’re loosing me with the math. $420B in subsidies is less than 10% of the $5.4T necessary for oil exploration. What do you mean by “one third” and “25%?”

Also, while I overwhelmingly support this idea, it might not be a fair $ comparison since the $5.4T is probably factored into the cost of the oil produced – thus it is not entirely an additional cost like the solar subsidy.