For context, a back of the envelope calculation is:
* Solar energy (on earth) gives about 250 W/m^2 [0]
* Earth has an approximate radius of 6.371 * 10^6 m
* Estimating sunlight on a disk of earth's radius yields ~ 700 * 10^15 (Wh/day) (3.14159 * (6.371 * 10^6)^2 (m^2) * (240 W/m^2) * (24 h/day))
That is, the earth's budget is just under 1 exa (Wh/day).
Earth's population is 8.2 B people and under a very generous energy consumption of 30 (kWh/day), that gives approximately 250 (TWh/day) (8.2 * 10^9 (ppl) * 30 * 10^3 ~ 250 * 10^12 (kWh/day/ppl)).
In other words, we're using about 1/1000 of a (back-of-the-envelope) theoretical upper limit of solar energy available to us on a daily basis.
* Solar energy (on earth) gives about 250 W/m^2 [0]
* Earth has an approximate radius of 6.371 * 10^6 m
* Estimating sunlight on a disk of earth's radius yields ~ 700 * 10^15 (Wh/day) (3.14159 * (6.371 * 10^6)^2 (m^2) * (240 W/m^2) * (24 h/day))
That is, the earth's budget is just under 1 exa (Wh/day).
Earth's population is 8.2 B people and under a very generous energy consumption of 30 (kWh/day), that gives approximately 250 (TWh/day) (8.2 * 10^9 (ppl) * 30 * 10^3 ~ 250 * 10^12 (kWh/day/ppl)).
In other words, we're using about 1/1000 of a (back-of-the-envelope) theoretical upper limit of solar energy available to us on a daily basis.
[0] https://www.solar-electric.com/learning-center/solar-insolat...