430 Quintillion Joules of energy per hour...
Crazy stat right?
In a single hour, the amount of power from the sun that strikes the Earth is more than the entire world consumes in a year. Each hour 430 quintillion Joules of energy from the sun hits the Earth. That's 430 with 18 zeroes after it!
In comparison, the total amount of energy that all humans use in a year is 410 quintillion Joules.
For context, the average South African home used 40 Billion joules of eclectricity in 2020.
Whats even crazier is that in 2021 we still heavily reliant on fossil fuels for power which is not only finite but extremely harmful to our planet.
Solar is the way?
Clearly, we have a source of virtually unlimited (the sun wont be leaving us for at least another 5 Billion years) clean energy in the form of solar power — we're just not capturing it. We have been moving in the right direction over the years with Solar and other forms of sustainable power becoming more prevalent hence why there's a big push for renewables. They don't increase our carbon footprint or exacerbate global warming, like burning fossil fuels does.
We can't, and shouldn't, continue using oil and coal forever — it is, as Elon Musk has said, "the dumbest experiment in history” because we are changing the Earth's atmosphere without knowing the consequences.
With Solar being so powerful, why are we then capturing so little?
The major issues over the years have been the quality of our batteries as well as the efficiency of solar panels. We haven't had batteries that could store solar power efficiently enough to provide reliable power but this has especially over the last few years become a moot point because the rate at which this technology is improving has allowed us to start storing vast amounts of solar power reliably but also efficiently and will set to only improve with better technology constantly being worked on.
Solar panels have followed the same trajectory with efficiency being constantly improved upon and various applications constantly being developed.
One day, we'll be able to capture all of the energy that our sun provides. It's just going to take time, investment, and a whole lot of innovation. We can safely say that the world is slowly changing perceptions of how abundant renewable power is the key to our growth, survival and ultimately our progression while also coming to terms with the fact that fossil fuels is a part of our history which will safely remain so, as history.
If your at all curious to know more about how efficient our battery and panel technologies are then reach out to [email protected] to have a sustainable solutions specialist connected with you to help guide you to a path of absolute Power Independence.