|
Enough solar energy strikes the earth in one hour to power the entire world for a year.
Obviously, we cannot collect all of that, so say it takes a week to collect all the energy needed for the entire earth.
Wind power could supply all the energy in about a month for the entire earth for a year.
Similar time frame for wave power. Geothermal would take longer -- I think 3 months, if my memory serves? Biomass also has a lot of potential.
I've read that in total, we could get about 16X more energy than we need from renewable sources. It is all around us, and very dependable. We can store power, too with elevated reservoirs of water or underground compressed air or underground thermal storage with molten salt.
Don't underestimate the great fusion reactor in the sky, or the moon's gravitational pull, or the earth's gravitational pull. These are the ultimate sources for all renewable energy sources.
The electric motors themselves are up to 94% efficient. The TWP4XP folks had about an 85% efficient plug-to-wheel drivetrain. Sounds about right to me.
Since it takes more electricity to drive an average car 100 miles than it does to drive an electric car 100 miles -- the "long tailpipe" argument goes away. This ratio gets worse and worse as we begin to use lower and lower quality crude oil; and the tar sands is another order of magnitude worse.
Electricity will get cleaner and cleaner over time. And renewable energy will last as long as the earth -- about another Billion years.
What's not to like?
|