Saturday, May 30, 2009

…My heart’s in Accra » ETech2008: Saul Griffith and personal power footprints

…My heart’s in Accra » ETech2008: Saul Griffith and personal power footprints: "all geothermal potential is 32TW. Tidal potential is 3.5TW. All photosynthesis is 90TW - “that’s one reason why biofuels are a bad idea. They’re basically 1% efficient solar cells.” There’s 100TW in thermal gradients in the ocean, “but you don’t want to screw with it because that’s what keeps Europe from freezing.”

A new fuel mix is going to be dominated by thermal and wind power. He offers us a tiny share from biofuels, 2 TW from photovoltaics, 2 TW from solar thermal power, 2 from wind, 2 from geothermal and 3 from nuclear. Good enough. But that’s going to require a bit of work. Oh, say, 100 square meters of solar cells every second for the next 25 years. And 12 3MW wind turbines per hour. And 1 3GW nuclear plant a week for the next 25 years."

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