Quote:
Originally Posted by SteaminDemon
As to replacing the entire power supply with solar. You are talking about quadrillions of dollars, possibly more. The ammount of space required alone would be crazy  and you would never be able to meet the demand.
If you think about it, just quickly. If you say, tear down Mr. Power plant and put solar panels around where the Mr. power plant was, you would produce no where near the ammount of power that Mr. Power plant produced. Then you would piss off Mrs. Power plant that can't hold the load anymore and would then just say to hell with it and leave everyone in the dark.
Who knows, Mrs power plant just might blow up so she can be with Mr. Power Plant.  First time I have ever put something into perspective like that....twas fun. |
No one is talking about tearing down power plants and replacing them one to one with solar farms. Lots of people are pointing out that there is a crazy amount of barren land out in the mid west (mid west people might disagree but there aren't too many of those anyways
).
If it's done at all, the solar power will be converted to a chemical fuel which will then supply the power plants.
It won't cost a quadrillion dollars but definitely would not be cheap.
So, assuming solar energy achieves cost parity with fossil fuel power generation in the US. What is the total replacement cost of all fossil fuel power plants in the US? Any idea?