renewable energy sufficient and affordable

En the sun the wind the land the waters

passive solar solar hot water solar radiant heating photovoltaics building integrated photovoltaics concentrated photovoltaics concentrated solar (solar thermal electricity)

solar is sufficient now: 25% coal 37% oil 23% natural gas 6% nuclear 9% renewable world will need 18 TW total energy in 2015 according to US DOE

18,000,000,000,000 watts translate coal, gas, oil and electrical energy into 18 trillion watts 18 TW

during peak sun hours, the sun provides 1 kW of energy per square meter photovoltaic panels are only 20% efficient, so one square meter PV provides about 0.2 kW or 200 watts

PV in deserts world has about 20 trillion sq meters of desert using a conservative 5 hours peak sun, 5 hours/24 hours = 21% capacity factor we can only get 20 trillion kW X 20% (PV efficiency) X 21% (peak sun availability) = 0.84 trillion kW = 0.84 trillion (1000 watts) = 840 trillion watts = 840 TW from desert PV

need 18 TW 840 TW from deserts 18/840 = 2% of desert land

affordable? DOE Sunshot Initiative ot/photovoltaics $$$

concentrated photovoltaics (CPV) higher efficiencies lower cost per watt “100 suns”

metal reflectors focus sun to heat fluid steam turns turbine fluid can be molten salt retaining heat to produce electricity at night

wind farms micro-wind off-shore wind

could wind only power the world? “Archer and Jacobson use worldwide weather stations and estimate the worldwide land and near-shore wind resource. Their calculation of total wind resource is 72 TW”

wind power is already economical DOE levelized cost $$$ _generation.cfm

NREL: US could produce nine times our current electrical consumption from onshore wind alone Texas is #1 in wind

geothermal is already economical DOE levelized cost $$$ _generation.cfm

geothermal heat pumps

Algae, he says, yields about 2,500 gallons of biofuel per acre per year. In contrast, soybeans yield approximately 48 gallons; corn about 18 gallons. Read more at: world-energy-demand.html#jCp algae fuel

The researchers estimate untillable land in Brazil, Canada, China and the U.S. could be used to produce enough algal biofuel to supplement more than 30 percent of those countries' fuel consumption.

waves tides dams moving rivers: hydrokinetic micro-hydro

waves

tides then and now La Rance, France tidal barrage generating 250 MW max since 1966 future “Scotland Plans to Use 100 Percent Renewable Energy by 2025” Scottish plan includes world’s largest tidal energy plant

dams China’s 3-Gorges dam hydropower provides about 1/5 of world electricity according to the World Bank

moving rivers hydrokinetic power Hastings, Minnesota 4.4 MW

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micro-hydro

solar alone could provide all the world’s energy wind alone could provide all the world’s energy

but they don’t have to! dams hydro-kinetic micro-hydro geothermal algae waves tides ocean currents

no coal no oil no natural gas no nuclear renewable energy is sufficient and affordable! Dot Sulock, University of North Carolina at Asheville