Why havn't we converted to SOLAR ENERGY? What are we waiting for?!?

Question

I heard that with a a solar panel a square mile in size could power the entire united states? WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR!?

Answer 1

it actually takes a lot of sun to power something. Not everywhere in the world has that much sunlight, so they cant use solar energy or not as much of it.

Answer 2

You've heard wrong.

The technology for converting solar energy to electricity has not advanced to a point to where it is as cheap and reliable as fossil fuels.

We Have been developing more and more solar power.  According to Wikipedia, in 1999, the total electricity generated from solar topped 1000 megawatts of power.

It will take time to switch to cleaner power sources.  You can't just wave a wand and have a new system appear.  It takes investors and industries and time to design, plan and build these things.

Answer 3

Hey we would have but bush owns a oil company and he doesnt want it to stop. and neither do the other oil owners. Otherwise they would make no money. that is exactly why. we will realize it later when we will have no more clean air.

Answer 4

I believe it is that most people don't care what happens after they die. Meaning Global Warming is not going to affect anyone over the age of 10 years old so why should they care what will not happen till after they are dead and gone. Most people want and want and want but they don't want the things that will help anyone but them and right at this minute.

Most people can't do the math correctly and see that solar cost less then renting power from the local utility. With solar electric you are buying 30 years of electric power all at once and up front. If you rent from the utility you pay cost of living increases and taxes that increase every year and the increase of fuel till it is gone. Then everyone will be wanting solar and the price will go up because they will say the demand is higher then production.

So like with a home you buy you can resell it later but if you rent a home you have a stack of payment stubs which are not worth the paper it is writen on.

How much are people willing to pay for that new car that they don't need or that big SUV or Hummer?

Why are people not driving a low priced Ugo or maybe a VW or something cheap like a Dodge Colt or a Ford Pinto?

If people are sick don't they go to the doctor anyway and charge it?

So why not be the doctor and fix our global warming problem and give our grand kids a chance to live?

Not going to happen till people are forced into it because people are too greedy.

Ok not all people are like I said but a lot are. Their back pockets come way before your grand kids or the birds and trees.

And I will be like anyone else (even the nuke and coal people) and would  fight to keep nuclear waste out of my back yard.

Go Solar

Answer 5

what are we waiting for? the entire united states? it would cost a lot of money to arrange this and a lot of motivation from people.

Answer 6

I agree with you.  We also have geothermal and wind power.  And they have new batteries that are expensive but can store so much more power.  Even on cloudy days the solar panels get energy.  I like the motor that the man has in Australia, runs off air.  That motor could be converted to run any and everything including generators which could run everything in a house and air back into the motor.  It  is running a Mule and all his forklifts.  Check it out on U Tube.

Answer 7

I don't know!?!?!? I've been wondering the same thing! I don't know where you heard that fact but I don't think it's right...? We use way to much power to have just one square mile power the whole country, althought that would be very cool!

Answer 8

Solar energy isn't as efficient as it appears. I have my money on geothermal energy and wind energy.

Toxic chemicals are released in production and disposal of solar panels and the batteries. And these d**n things break easily! Lots of money for repairing and maintenance. Windmills on the other hand has been around for ages and are more manageable.

I heard we're building more and more wind farms! Yeah!

Answer 9

seeing as nobodys doing it, it's probably not as easy as it sounds. Becuase if it was that easy, people woyld make it happen. Your info's probably wrong.

Answer 10

well first off it would take more than that, it really is just that the oil companies are going to milk us for all we're worth before they compleatly convert as for the car companies, think about it... are thay going to make more money converting instantly (everyone buys thier new cars) or convert slowly (everyone buys the new cars everytime ther's an improvment)

Answer 11

1) If we converted completely to solar energy as you seem adamant we should, what would happen when it was night and everyone wanted to turn their lights on. Or a day when it was overcast. All that money spent on panels and we'd still have to revert to old methods

2) Plus solar panels are still new, very hard to make, and not cost efficient. A square mile of panels would need a tremendous  amount of energy and resources (and money) to make.

We need to wait until we can make panels cheaper, more efficient and with less by-products.

Answer 12

a square mile of solar panels would power a large town or small city but all the residents would have to be millionaires to pay for it and the sun doesnt shine at night so you would only have electricity in the day time.

THINK! if your unable to think check things out on wikipedia at least. or just go on believing anything you hear.

Answer 13

I don't know how accurate that statement is but youre right, its a matter of waiting for the bureaucrats in washington to get through the rest of the world's issues FIRST and then look at solar power seriously... :-/

Answer 14

Christmas

Answer 15

people are stupid and don't know what's good for them and our earth.

Answer 16

Well some ppl live in areas where its mostly winter all the time with no sun.

Answer 17

Because it's not in the oil company interests. Not only that there has been heaps of suppressed technology. We don't even need solar power. we could all have our own generator of zero point energy that never runs out in our garage. But that would mean  oil companies loose their money and power. Here are some links see for your self.

http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?doc...

http://www.disclosureproject.org/

Answer 18

GOOD QUESTION! The government wants a way to control us and to get money from us. If things were cheaper, where would they get their money from? Like, do you really think we have a say in who becomes president?? NO, but people are still stupid enough to donate money to candidates. Bush didn't even win when he became president.

Answer 19

One word: Cost.  The cost of electricity produced through direct application of solar energy is significantly higher than that of electricity produced by combustion of fossil fuels.

Answer 20

I don't see anything stopping you. Why haven't you converted?

Answer 21

It's an economics problem.  If you look at the solar units now being sold to homeowners, they just don't pencil out.  Even with tax credits, purchase allowances and all that other stuff, it is still a poor use of your money to invest in solar.  If you want widespread solar use, then you should look for $200 to $300 per barrel for crude oil (which would mean about $5 to $8 per gallon of gasoline.  Probably at $200 and certainly at $300, solar energy becomes a prudent use of your money.

Answer 22

Power companies make too much money, thats why progressive, green energy ideas are not utilised.

Answer 23

Nobody's doing the actual maths, so here are the numbers!:

1 square meter of traditional photovoltaics produces about 200Watts (facing up) and costs 1000 dollars

1 sq kilometer would produce 200MegaWatts and cost already 1 billion dollars

1 sq mile is about 2.5 times this, so:

1 sq mile produces 500MW and costs 2.5 billion dollars

The problem is that America consumes about 500GW live (i think), which is 1000 times more, so:

1000 sq mile produce 500GW and cost 2500 billion

This is a square of side 30 miles times 30 miles, much bigger than your square mile (900 times bigger). It's big but not impossible. Note some gaps may be needed for roads etc but on the other hand panel efficiency may rise in 5-10 years. The problem lies in the cost, the 2500B, but mass volume could reduce the cost 3 to 5x so it could turn into 500 billion...

Do you think 500B is prohibitive? well that's what we spent in Irak. At least with solar we would have solved our energy crisis

PS: any calculation error please email me

Answer 24

The energy required to produce such a panel would offset any long term benifits by 10 to 1.

The technoligy needs to be improved. It will happen one day.

Answer 25

its to expensive, it takes a long time to pay for it self.

Answer 26

I agree that it can be frustrating to wait for this technology to become more widespread.  While solar power has made significant strides in recent years in cost, it still costs more to install and maintain solar power than other options.  Part of this cost is due to solar power only working during the day.  While a coal or nuclear plant can run all day, solar power can only be generated during the daytime hours.

Despite this, solar power plants are being installed across the world, and is getting cheaper very quickly.

Answer 27

Actually I'm not sure what it is, but I've heard that it was more something like if the entire South West was covered in solar panels then it could power the U.S. or World or something big, either way however, that statement about a square mile isn't true.  And solar energy is still expensive and requires a lot of effort, digging out silicon and materials from the ground, melting the materials into shapeable parts, etc., don't get me wrong I think we should use more solar and wind energy here in the U.S., however it isn't very easy nor very economical to do so quickly

Answer 28

While it is a good idea, it is often to unreliable and inefficient.  Since soler energy cells can't produce energy 24/7 it would cause a shortage of power.  

   To anyone wondering why they don't convert try setting up wing or solar generators in your home.  You will notice that, while useful and easy energy, they do not produce nearly enough.  Often you can have homes covered entirely in solar panels yet still need to be connected to the power grid.  Once they are more efficient though they may become more common use.

Answer 29

Winter to go away. 16 hours of dark is not much use.

Also your figures are way out.

Answer 30

You heard wrong. Very, very wrong. Nuclear and Geothermal energy will be the future. h**l, it should be the present, but environmentalists got so scared about the destructive power of nuclear energy, they refused to see it's possibilities.

Upset with the state of the environment, or the US economy? Environmentalists only need to look in the mirror to find out who's to blame.

h**l we could take care of our own oil demand right here at home because we know where so much of it is. But 'No!'. Environmentalists don't want to risk an oil spill, despite the fact that we have INCREDIBLY high safety standards (second only to Japan). So instead we have to pay 90+ USD a barrel to a foreign power over seas (whom is most likely funding Muslim militants who hate the US of A.) while our dollar value continues to sink like a stone.

Sorry for the rant... I'm a little bitter.

Answer 31

To be honest, it would not.  It is really not cost effective, and is actually not that reliable.  It would take so many solar panels, that we would not have enough money or room for it.