Damn sun!

Sorry, I can't help myself. I'm loving Huffington's green site. One article asks if solar power can power the entire world as many claim. The following chart shows how much energy is currently consumed by the world and how much energy can be generated by wind and the sun. According to this chart, it appears the sun can handle it.




The chart below shows much land it would take to harness enough solar energy to power the world. This is based off of thermal solar power plants that are assumed to be in the African desert.




Granted that this does not answer questions of energy transmission and obviously we cannot take up that much in space in one area for a power plant, but it does however, give one a better idea of the scale when thinking about our energy issues. It shows it is more than possible with ideas that combine technologies and spread out solar energy plants.