estimate how much solar energy reaches the earth per year (in joule). course hero

by Adrien Jast 10 min read

How much energy does solar power generate?

Jan 24, 2019 · Each hour 430 quintillion Joules of energy from the sun hits the Earth. In a year it is very hard to determine because of the night and different light levels.

How much energy is in a terawatt year?

Jun 20, 2019 · Question 3 2 / 2 pts Estimate how much solar energy reaches the earth per year (in Joule). 3.7668e+24 Question 4 2 / 2 pts Estimate the current annual world consumption of energy per year (in Joule). 606657115256499994624 Question 5 2 / 2 pts Estimate the ratio of the energy delivered by the Sun to the energy consumed by humans. 109.14

What percentage of solar energy is used in photosynthesis?

Nov 17, 2021 · Estimate humanity’s current daily energy consumption (in Joule). 1,662,074,300,000,000,000 2 / 2 pts Question 6 Assuming 100% efficiency of extracting solar energy, estimate the ratio of solar energy to human's current annual world consumption of energy. 109.14 Quiz Score: 10 out of 10

How much energy does wind power generate?

Apr 27, 2020 · Estimate how much energy Earth receives from the Sun every year. The solar constant is about 1000 Watts per square meter. An area scales as a distance squared. All numbers must be entered as 5000 or 5e3 or 5.0e3 and not with commas as in "5,000" and not as fractions as in "3/4" and not as percentages as in "70%". Take the Quiz Again 2 / 2 pts Question …

How much energy does solar energy generate?

Solar energy. Solar generates 23,000 terawatt years of energy per year. Believe it or not, these solar energy numbers are conservative — they assume only 35% of sunlight gets through the atmosphere and they only measure sunlight falling on land masses.

How much geothermal energy is used per year?

There is 0.2 to 3.0 terawatt years per year of easily usable geothermal energy. There is a vastly larger amount of geothermal energy just below the earth’s surface but almost all of it is what scientists call “low-grade heat,” uneconomical to use for anything more than heating buildings.

How much more energy is in a terawatt year?

A terawatt hour is a billion kilowatt hours. So, together, a terawatt year is 8.760 trillion times more energy than a standard kilowatt hour.

What is the energy of biomass?

Biomass energy. Only 0.1% [6] of solar energy reaching earth’s surface is used in photosynthesis, the essential energy conversion for all living things. Transforming this captured energy into anything other than food is very inefficient. And, growing or harvesting biomass, like corn for ethanol, or wood pellets for power plants is rarely carbon ...

Is the total uranium reserves smaller than expected?

Given all this, it’s not surprising that total reserves are smaller than expected. Of course, new technologies that can make better use of the uranium potentially increase the reserves 30-50 times, but even then, it’s still dwarfed by solar’s annual production.

Is solar energy the least expensive source of energy?

Available energy reserves are a fascinating lens for understanding the potential for any single source of energy. But, in the end, the adoption of one type of energy over another is determined by relative costs. Again, solar comes out on top here — solar is increasingly the least expensive way to generate electricity. The cost of solar has dropped 300-times over the last 40 years and it will continue to decline for years to come, making its cost advantage larger and larger. Batteries are on a similar cost decline and, together with solar, they provide unlimited access to the cheapest and most widely available source of energy to power our plant – solar energy.

Solar Energy

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Solar generates 23,000 terawatt years of energy per year. Believe it or not, these solar energy numbers are conservative — they assume only 35% of sunlight gets through the atmosphere and they only measure sunlight falling on land masses. How much energy is this? To put it in perspective, your monthly electric bill is mea…
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Wind Energy

  • Wind generates 75 to 130 terawatt years per year of energy, a surprisingly small fraction of solar energy. Remember that all wind results from the convection currents created by the sun heating the atmosphere. Stanford’s research shows that 19% of the sun’s energy from space is absorbed in the atmosphere and 2.8%of that results in wind energy.
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Geothermal Energy

  • There is 0.2 to 3.0 terawatt years per year of easily usable geothermal energy. There is a vastly larger amount of geothermal energy just below the earth’s surface but almost all of it is what scientists call “low-grade heat,” uneconomical to use for anything more than heating buildings. A recent report by the US Department of Energy called “GeoVision: Harnessing the Heat Beneath O…
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Biomass Energy

  • Only 0.1%of solar energy reaching earth’s surface is used in photosynthesis, the essential energy conversion for all living things. Transforming this captured energy into anything other than food is very inefficient. And, growing or harvesting biomass, like corn for ethanol, or wood pellets for power plants is rarely carbon neutral and usually consumes large amounts of water, fertilizer, an…
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Uranium Energy Reserves

  • For me, the most surprising data point from this chart was the relatively low potential energy from the world’s uranium reserves. The Nuclear Energy Association estimates a total of 15 million tons identified and potential uranium reserves on earth. The World Nuclear Association estimates total uranium reserves will last 90 years. Given all this, it’s not surprising that total reserves are small…
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The Freeing Energy Perspective

  • Available energy reserves are a fascinating lens for understanding the potential for any single source of energy. But, in the end, the adoption of one type of energy over another is determined by relative costs. Again, solar comes out on top here — solar is increasingly the least expensive way to generate electricity. The cost of solar has dropped 300-times over the last 40 years and it will …
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Additional Reading

  1. The revised 2015 visualizations by Marc and David Perez: A Fundamental Look At Supply Side Energy Reserves For The Planet
  2. Wikipedia’s great article, Solar Energy
  3. Stanford’s Exergy visualization
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