- SOLAR ENERGY POTENTIAL
The sun has a huge potential for creating energy, way more then we use today.
The total solar energy absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and land masses is approximately 3,850,000 exajoules (EJ) per year.In 2002, this was more energy in one hour than the world used in one year. Photosynthesis captures approximately 3,000 EJ per year in biomass. The technical potential available from biomass is from 100–300 EJ/year. The amount of solar energy reaching the surface of the planet is so vast that in one year it is about twice as much as will ever be obtained from all of the Earth’s non-renewable resources of coal, oil, natural gas, and mined uranium combined, Solar energy can be harnessed at different levels around the world, mostly depending on distance from the equator.
| Solar | 3,850,000 EJ |
| Wind | 2,250 EJ |
| Biomass potential | 100–300 EJ |
| Primary energy use (2010) | 539 EJ |
| Electricity (2010) | 66.5 EJ |
Solar areas defined by the dark disks could provide more than the world’s total primary energy demand (assuming a conversion efficiency of 8%). That is, all energy currently consumed, including heat, electricity, fossil fuels, etc., would be produced in the form of electricity by solar cells. The colors in the map show the local solar irradiance averaged over three years from 1991 to 1993 (24 hours a day) taking into account the cloud coverage available from weather satellites.
Source: wikipedia
TYPES OF SOLAR ENERGY