January 26, 2016 | By RGR Marketing Blog

Elon Musk’s Plan for a Solar-Powered Future Is Looking Pretty Solid

 

With all the Internet grandstanding going on since Elon Musk’s appearance in Paris during the recent climate talks, it might be easy to believe that the man single-handedly has solved the world’s energy crisis and climate change simultaneously – all while offering orphans free trips to the moon and whatever else.

Though only a small portion of this statement can be construed as plausible, it’s still pretty fantastic news.

Elon Musk, CEO of both Tesla Motors and one of the biggest solar power companies on the planet, has definitely established himself as a big thinker in terms of the world’s future energy needs (among other things). His take on powering the entirety of the most energy-hungry nation the world has ever known? It makes a certain amount of sense.

His proposal that the whole of the U.S. could be powered by a solar power generation installation tucked away in a corner of either Nevada or Utah, is technically feasible. The idea that we could have the conversion completed in as few as fifteen years, dependent as it is on the will of the people and the leaders they elect, may be a bit more far-fetched.

Does the Sun Really Produce Enough Energy?

In a word: yes. The sun bombards the earth with more energy in a single day than we use globally in an entire year. In fact, think back to middle school Earth Science class.

All the material resources we use to power everything that we do on the Earth – all that coal, oil, gasoline, natural gas, etc. is all fossilized and plant matter grown by the sun’s energy millions of years ago and transformed by time, heat, and pressure into concentrated solar energy that we’ve burned up in a very short amount of time.

In fact, most forms of renewable energy are simply ways of collecting the energy of the sun as it generates the rain cycle and wind.

Do We Have the Technology to Go 100% Solar in the U.S.?

At the risk of sounding redundant: yes. Solar technology has come a long way since the dark ages of the mid-twentieth century.

The pressing and problematic issue of late has been with energy storage to power the grid with solar when the sun isn’t shining. Musk has done a great deal with his various interests to work on this problem, helping to drive down the costs of the type of batteries we will need to make this vision a reality. The infrastructure is also in place.

Do We Have the Money and/or the Will?

This is always the great hitching point, especially when it comes to the politics behind such advancements in society. How bad do the effects of climate change, as spurred on by conventional energy production and consumption, need to get for us to manage the political will necessary to divert resources toward building a more sustainable future?

Now that we have tornadoes in January and are losing vast areas of low-lying coastal lands, maybe we have the will to free up the money and other resources. Only time will tell, combined with how committed Elon Musk and company actually are…

[Photo via: BuffaloNews]

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