How much energy is being spent as opposed to that being produced?

Question

I'd like to know whether our current energy needs can be sustained for a very long time (say, 10 centuries). We're basically burning energy that was produced during millions and millions of years. I know that most of our energy reserves can be traced to energy radiated to earth by the sun.

Assumming that we started from 0 energy reserves, how much energy do we get from the sun that we can harness and how much energy are we currently spending?

One related question is: How much area covered by solar cells do we need to power a regular size vehicle to travel 100 miles at 60 miles/hour?

Answer 1

There are many alternatives to fossil fuels for energy. Just a matter of supply and demand. When the demand for alternatives gets strong enough, the supply will be developed and delivered. We have the technology now to switch 80% of our energy needs to something other than fossil, but not the will.

Answer 2

Solar panels that completely cover a regular size car will only produce about one horse power in full sunlight. A typical car uses WAY more power than the sunlight falling on it could provide, even if the solar cells could convert 100% of it to usable electricity.

By the way, power is the rate of using energy. So all you need to know is the rate you are using the energy, not how long you use it. 60MPH will need a certain rate of energy, which will be more than 1 HP in all cases. Then the total energy used depends on how long you are going 60MPH. Twice as long uses twice as much energy, but the power is constant. It is kind of like energy is gallons of water and power is gallons per minute of water flow.