Well the way I see it - two centuries ago, this is what you would see in any harbour in the world
And thatched cottages like this were common place
And there were no cars on the roads, no skyscrapers, hardly any suspension bridges etc.
In just my lifetime I've seen just about everyone I know has a computer of some sort - especially if you count a cell phone as a computer. Internet everywhere. Huge quantities of equipment produced world wide to meet these needs.
So - well in the future, can easily imagine that solar power stations like this are everywhere throughout the warmer regions of the world especially
And solar panels on everyone's roof
And on their cars. And who knows - maybe so reduced in cost and common place that they are everywhere - wherever you can put them, you have them.
And electric cars everywhere
So - then you can use the batteries of the electric cars for storage of daytime solar power through the night - just a fraction of the energy of each battery.
Or other methods like liquid salt or whatever. Or making hydrogen fuel cells with the electricity. One way or another I think we'll crack the problem of storage and transport of the energy from the sun.
Long wave transmission also. And could have solar panel satellites as well like this
Right now they are expensive - some Japanese seem to think it is the next "big thing" and you get optimistic ideas that we may start to get solar power from space by 2025.
Maybe not as soon as that who knows. But - say 2050, who knows, with advancing technology.
Robert Walker's answer to What are the risks of solar satellites beaming energy to Earth? How beneficial can they be? Is there a programme going on to prepare to deploy them?
So - I think all our power could be met, potentially, by solar alone if we can crack the storage - or convert solar power to other formats that can be stored, such as hydrogen cells - or get it from space economically.
This is a rough map showing how much area of the Sahara desert would be needed to supply all the world's energy - the largest red square
It's from DESERTEC-UK
You can quibble about the size - how efficient are the panels - how much energy will we really need - but - what is clear - is that not much of the total surface of the Earth is needed to get all our power from solar power, and for sure, can get it all from solar power stations in the deserts alone.
If we can crack the storage issue. Or are happy to rely on long range transmission through several intermediate countries - then we can do it for sure.
The analogy with C19 and late C20 world - to me suggests - that this could happen - maybe almost imperceptibly - like the way - that somehow - not really knowing quite how it happened, in my lifetime we transited from a world in which you had huge machines like this:
Just to punch the cards that you fed into the computer to make it run. I used one of those myself in the early days. The computer itself was a big thing, made of many machines working together, in a special room with many attendants to keep it going - and your ordinary user never saw it.
All the way through to nowadays, a mobile phone
like the last one in that photograph is far far more powerful than those machines back then.
After experiencing these rapid transitions in my own life - but they happen so slowly in a way - they creep up on you and you don't know quite how it happened.
A bit like the way mobile phones have slowly transformed, each one seems pretty much like the previous one, but compare the latest with the first ones and you see a huge change.
I expect same thing to happen. At some point, not even quite knowing how it happened, we'll find we generate all our energy from solar. Possibly with help of nuclear fusion - and other sources.
We do have to work to achieve this yes. But it might happen a bit sooner than we expect.
And thatched cottages like this were common place
And there were no cars on the roads, no skyscrapers, hardly any suspension bridges etc.
In just my lifetime I've seen just about everyone I know has a computer of some sort - especially if you count a cell phone as a computer. Internet everywhere. Huge quantities of equipment produced world wide to meet these needs.
So - well in the future, can easily imagine that solar power stations like this are everywhere throughout the warmer regions of the world especially
And solar panels on everyone's roof
And on their cars. And who knows - maybe so reduced in cost and common place that they are everywhere - wherever you can put them, you have them.
And electric cars everywhere
So - then you can use the batteries of the electric cars for storage of daytime solar power through the night - just a fraction of the energy of each battery.
Or other methods like liquid salt or whatever. Or making hydrogen fuel cells with the electricity. One way or another I think we'll crack the problem of storage and transport of the energy from the sun.
Long wave transmission also. And could have solar panel satellites as well like this
Right now they are expensive - some Japanese seem to think it is the next "big thing" and you get optimistic ideas that we may start to get solar power from space by 2025.
Maybe not as soon as that who knows. But - say 2050, who knows, with advancing technology.
Robert Walker's answer to What are the risks of solar satellites beaming energy to Earth? How beneficial can they be? Is there a programme going on to prepare to deploy them?
So - I think all our power could be met, potentially, by solar alone if we can crack the storage - or convert solar power to other formats that can be stored, such as hydrogen cells - or get it from space economically.
This is a rough map showing how much area of the Sahara desert would be needed to supply all the world's energy - the largest red square
You can quibble about the size - how efficient are the panels - how much energy will we really need - but - what is clear - is that not much of the total surface of the Earth is needed to get all our power from solar power, and for sure, can get it all from solar power stations in the deserts alone.
If we can crack the storage issue. Or are happy to rely on long range transmission through several intermediate countries - then we can do it for sure.
The analogy with C19 and late C20 world - to me suggests - that this could happen - maybe almost imperceptibly - like the way - that somehow - not really knowing quite how it happened, in my lifetime we transited from a world in which you had huge machines like this:
Just to punch the cards that you fed into the computer to make it run. I used one of those myself in the early days. The computer itself was a big thing, made of many machines working together, in a special room with many attendants to keep it going - and your ordinary user never saw it.
All the way through to nowadays, a mobile phone
After experiencing these rapid transitions in my own life - but they happen so slowly in a way - they creep up on you and you don't know quite how it happened.
A bit like the way mobile phones have slowly transformed, each one seems pretty much like the previous one, but compare the latest with the first ones and you see a huge change.
I expect same thing to happen. At some point, not even quite knowing how it happened, we'll find we generate all our energy from solar. Possibly with help of nuclear fusion - and other sources.
We do have to work to achieve this yes. But it might happen a bit sooner than we expect.
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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