How Many Solar Panels Are Needed To Power Entire World

a reply to: Superecho2021
I still don't disagree...👍

That's why I still have my portable back up at the ready, had already roughed it and know that it's not rational to eat my last jellybean because it's yellow... sort of 😉

I wondered if deep underground mil. bases are off grid...I used plant lights, and solar panels in my shed once at night -small scale stuff and it was somewhere between suck, and not so bad...it was a regular car battery though.

Harnessing free energy generated at home is only as good as the ability to store it, and access it. Solar is fabulous, it's grand and nifty, but if your batteries are low grade....we get our money's worth...which is manufactured intentionally...

We have the tech to watch the grid become obsolete, but but but self reliance is frowned upon, as you know.

a reply to: loveguy

If you are lucky enough to live next to a reliable stream then there are other methods as well such as this guy down on New Zealand did.


This works for wind as well as water.

You hit the nail on the head as far as storage is concerned, if you are lucky and know enough about electricity you can always rig up a circuit to store some power in old lead acid battery's or fork out and buy a dedicated storage cell which will of course often come with the added benefit of having the power regulator and some sockets built in most of the time so that you can run devices at the correct voltage and current for them to actually work.

I would suggest most of those Dumbs have state of the art internal power supply's and plenty of them are also probably built near to underground rivers so that they can tap them for hydropower but since those rivers also potentially compromise them as a source for radiation and other dangers to enter the facility I would say if so they would then likely have the main DUMB facility's quite some distance away from them but close enough to be powered by those underground rivers (And power generation facility's they may build around them) and of course likely they also have nuclear reactors something akin to those used in nuclear submarines etc OR some other super top secret power source.

originally posted by: beyondknowledge

originally posted by: bastion

originally posted by: Bluntone22

originally posted by: loveguy
a reply to: waftist
Most residences consume on average below 2,000 watt hours....per day.

20 ---100 watt solar panels with a battery bank is considered off grid with more than enough to thrive.

Don't solar panels average about 15% efficiency?
2000 watts times 15% = 300 watts

Even central air will use 3000 watts an hour.

I think they're a lot more efficient than that nowadays, more like 25 -30% - a mate is offgrid and powers electric for 10 - 20 families and 2 - 5kw of sound rigs off a couple of m^2 arrays and a few dozen old fork lift truck batteries to store it in.

The parabolic-thorium arrays are 70 - 80% efficient and can power the earth with around 10 square miles of arrays but power grids would need to be converted to DC to transport the electricity efficiently over distance.

DC does not work over any great distance for power. The wires would have to be too big.

Are you sure? I was taught it was the far better option for distances a decade or so ago with modern tech.

From what I've read it's far better for long distances as there's less loss and it's cheaper to build (DC is financially viable up to 4000 miles while AC isn't financially viable over 2500 miles. DC works better ad cheaper than AC in distances over 300miles according to this: Benefits of DC over AC

AC lines have three conductors while HVDC has two so lines are thinner, weigh less and transmit more power.

Lines connecting the UK to mainand Europe have been replaced with HVDC as it's the cheaper and more efficient option over AC.

a reply to: bastion

Having read the article in your link, you have no understanding of what it says.

but power grids would need to be converted to DC to transport the electricity efficiently over distance.

This is a quote from your post I replied to.

Your article specifically mentions that short distances are not viable for HVDC but under specific cercumstances it is useful for long distance power transmission.

HVDC is a special circumstance technology that has no use in the power grid other than to move power in long distances from point A to point B with no other connections. It is not useful as a distribution system as you suggested. The application in your linked article states this well. There must be a converter station at each end, one AC to HVDC and one HVDC back to AC for use in the grid.

You will also find that the standard 3 phase AC system uses four bare wires for almost all the transmission system and the HVDC system uses a coaxial cable therefore the HVDC line is many times thicker as it is both insulated and vastly more complex in construction.

I know it's a special circumstance one. My original post was how DC would more efficient in use connecting the solar panel field to localised distribution, which is true - you've just editted out that part and removed the context of my post in you above quote.

I specified it was for long distance and never suggested it being used for local distribution or short-medium transfer so I'm not sure why you're claiming I suggested it was for short distance distribution.

Does the US not consider the converter stations as part of the grid? They're part of the national grid in the UK and maaged by the grid. I could understand the confusion if the US doesn't consider them part of the grid and only uses it to refer to local distribution but otherwise at a loss how you interpreted my post that way.

a reply to: bastion

I did not edit the quote from your post. It is copied as it was posted. I was showing the part where you stated the grid needs to be converted to DC. That would mean changing the power distribution system and not just intigrating it as part of the overall system. If you meant something different then we have some confusion in the English to English language barrier. While I am fimiliar with the consumer, commercial, and industrial application differences, I am not that familiar with the UK distribution system term differences.

I think most would consider the HVDC power system applications as part of the generation of power in the electrical systems and not the distribution grid. Yes it does move electrical power but it does not have a distribution capability.

a reply to: waftist

How Many Solar Panels Are Needed To Power Entire World?

Just one. Be sure the panel is big enough.

originally posted by: beyondknowledge
a reply to: bastion

Having read the article in your link, you have no understanding of what it says.

but power grids would need to be converted to DC to transport the electricity efficiently over distance.

This is a quote from your post I replied to.

Your article specifically mentions that short distances are not viable for HVDC but under specific cercumstances it is useful for long distance power transmission.

HVDC is a special circumstance technology that has no use in the power grid other than to move power in long distances from point A to point B with no other connections. It is not useful as a distribution system as you suggested. The application in your linked article states this well. There must be a converter station at each end, one AC to HVDC and one HVDC back to AC for use in the grid.

You will also find that the standard 3 phase AC system uses four bare wires for almost all the transmission system and the HVDC system uses a coaxial cable therefore the HVDC line is many times thicker as it is both insulated and vastly more complex in construction.

Yes you did, you removed all the words prior to the 'but' in my post - this is the full quote of that sentence:

originally posted by: bastion



The parabolic-thorium arrays are 70 - 80% efficient and can power the earth with around 10 square miles of arrays but power grids would need to be converted to DC to transport the electricity efficiently over distance.

Removing that section removes all the context of my post and that I was talking about transfering the power from source to localised distribution misrepresents my post.

Admittedly I should have been a lot clearer with my post and stated it only applies to the transmissioin grid rather than distribution grid and that DC is only superior in that context as it's far better for transfering over distance.

In the UK the grid refers to the entire process of tranmission from source to delivery to consumer - the first stage is the transmission grid and second is the distribution grid - I failed to make a distinction between which one I was refering to which is probably the cause of confusion as it could be interpreted that I meant also converting local distribution to DC which wouldn't work as AC is far better for short-medium distances.

a reply to: bastion
Not for nothing...ya both points is legit, beyondknowledge 🙋

Most of the stuff we plug into an outlet in our homes has a transformer thingy that switches ac current to DC current to operate it's switches or what have you.

I ruined a lot of stereos!