Solar Power Could Supply 69% of US Electricity by 2050
A massive switch from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants to solar power plants could supply 69% of the US’s electricity and 35% of its total energy by 2050, according to Scientific American.
However, $420 billion in subsidies from 2011 to 2050 would be required to fund the infrastructure and make it cost-competitive, the publication says in “A Solar Grand Plan” presented in its January 2008 issue.
The energy in sunlight striking the earth for 40 minutes is equivalent to global energy consumption for a year.
To convert the country to solar power, huge tracts of land would have to be covered with photovoltaic panels and solar heating troughs, Scientific American says. A direct-current (DC) transmission backbone would also have to be erected to send that energy efficiently across the nation.
“The technology is ready,” the publication says. “We project that this energy could be sold to consumers at rates equivalent to today’s rates for conventional power sources, about five cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh).”
If wind, biomass and geothermal sources were also developed, renewable energy could provide 100% of the nation’s electricity and 90% of its energy by 2100.
The federal government would have to invest more than $400 billion over the next 40 years to complete the 2050 plan, the study estimates. “That investment is substantial, but the payoff is greater:”
- Solar plants consume little or no fuel, saving billions of dollars year after year.
- The infrastructure would displace 300 large coal-fired power plants and 300 more large natural gas plants and all the fuels they consume.
- The plan would effectively eliminate all imported oil, fundamentally cutting US trade deficits and easing political tension in the Middle East and elsewhere.
- The plan would also reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants by 1.7 billion tons a year, and another 1.9 billion tons from gasoline vehicles would be displaced by plug-in hybrids refueled by the solar power grid.
- In 2050 US carbon dioxide emissions would be 62 % below 2005 levels, putting a major brake on global warming.
The article also inlcudes helpful infographics explaining Photovoltaics, Underground Storage and other topics.
One beneficiary of such a grand plan could be Nanosolar, which just started shipping what it claims is the world’s lowest-cost solar panel. The company believes it can be the first manufacturer capable of profitably selling solar panels at as little as $.99/Watt.
According to The New York Times, at that price, solar energy becomes less expensive than coal.
With a $1-per-watt panel it is possible to build $2-per-watt systems. Nanosolar chief executive Martin Roscheisen
According to the Energy Department, building a new coal plant costs about $2.1 a watt, plus the cost of fuel and emissions.
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