(Video Link)
Bang Goes the Theory is a popular science show on BBC One. In this clip, host Jem Stansfield visited the Solar Furnace Research Facility in France and witnessed how much power can be generated from 2 square meters of sunlight when it's all focused on one small spot.
via Make
The sky is falling!
The cake is a lie, the cube is forever.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cwrSE63jF7Y/R_J1jPAwsYI/AAAAAAAAAQw/5sQSuXMFZmM/s1600-h/us_solar_energy_map.jpg
The amount of energy in sunlight has long been known. One major problem we have is that we cannot yet extract 100% of that energy in a usable form, we are getting closer and close to the level of efficiency that would make it practicable to get all our energy from the sun.
Another problem is storage, we use the most energy in winter and at night and in particular at night during the winter. We need to be able to store the excess energy from the summer months to use on those long dark winter nights. Not so easy. Nobody has yet come up with a way to store that much energy for that length of time.
The other problem is that the planet needs solar energy to keep working. If we steal all the energy we need from the sun we could be putting the earth's weather and ecosystems at risk. Nobody has yet researched what long term impact this would have. This is a problem common to many forms of "renewable" energy. Take tidal energy as an example, a tidal barrage somewhere like the Bristol channel sounds like a great idea. Masses of free energy every day? Great. But what effect will this have on the rich and complex ecosystem of that area? Nobody knows.
With fossil fuels nobody ever thought about the impact their use would have on the planet until it became all too apparent what those effects were. What we must avoid doing at all costs is rushing into using "renewable" energy and then finding out years down the line that we are doing untold harm to the planet by using this "free" energy.
And remember fossil fuel is, in effect, stored solar energy.
If only we could get our tax money back from whatever public education buffoons that failed to teach basic science to Jollyboy.
Jollyboy does make a good point about storage, but it's not "stealing energy" that otherwise would have been reflected, absorbed by the ground, or a roof, and dissipated.
That energy that is extracted is such a miniscule proportion of all the light falling in a particular area, even one scattered with solar panels, that I would be surprised if it in any way affected the weather or ecosystem. The weather is a powerful force and it would take more than solar panels to significantly affect it.
I saw a talk by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki on whether renewable energy could be used to power Australia/the world, who is qualified to talk about this issue, and he did not even raise "stealing energy" as a concern for the ecosystem.