Headline April 23, 2016/ ''' HUMANS TOTAL POWER NEEDS : 16 TERAWATTS '''

''' HUMANS TOTAL POWER NEEDS : 

16 TERAWATTS '''

A TERAWATT by the way is a trillion watts.

HERE  -YES, HERE in PAKISTAN, power shortages have turned the life of this great nation and its beautiful people,  totally upside down.

Just about every one keeps querying me. And in the last many years, I have seen governments come and go, and the wheels keep spinning in the sand.

It would take Pakistan over a decade, before it can conquer this problem. WHY?  Master Yogi Berra has a better answer than what I can conjure up:

*There's a lot of practical in theory. But there's no theory in practical*. Trust that you all get the flow.

ENERGY EQUAL TO 8,000 TIMES THE World's electricity use constantly shines on Earth. Even with current technology, we could harvest enough to supply dozens of times our demand for electricity-

But the infrastructure needed to switch to solar power cost much more at current prices than continuing to burn fossil fuels.

As data from NASA  satellites show, that the world solar leaders, notably Germany, are not the sunniest countries but the ones that can afford to pay extra for solar power.

Solar costs are falling steadily, however. Developing countries like Pakistan, and developing nations in the subtropics may benefit from that trend, study shine there means investment in solar infrastructure could pay off fast.

Most of the world's best solar potential remains unexploited,  as I benchmark and take a close look at the baseline in the U.S.  

THE GREAT MASTER *SUN*  is a Utopian fuel : limitless, ubiquitous, and clean  Surely someday we'll give up on coal, oil and gas  -so hard on the climate-

So unequally distributed worldwide   -and go straight to the energy source that made fossil fuels.

In a few sunny places where electric rates are high, like Italy and Hawaii, solar energy is already on the verge of being competitive. But in most places the sun remains by far the most expensive source of electric power -typically in the U.S.

It costs several times more than natural gas or coal   -which is why it still supplies only a fraction of its needs.

That won't change fast unless governments give solar a big boost. President Barack Obama campaigned with a pledge to institute a federal 'renewable portfolio standard'  requiring utilities to generate a quarter of their electricity from renewables by 2025.

Yet even if Congress enacted that ambitious law, coal would still dominate the nation's electricity portfolio two decades from now, and solar energy would probably remain a minor contributor.

Cap-and-trade legislation that sets a price on carbon emissions would not be a magic bullet for solar either.

Both mandates would likely lead utilities to favor the cheapest renewables, like wind. Solar would make a sizable contribution only after 2025, once the expansion of wind energy had pleatued.

Some advances we need to encourage solar more directly. European nations have done so with   ''feed-in tariffs,'' laws that require electric utilities to pay premiums solar-power producers-

Be they commercial power plants or private homes that pump energy to the grid.

Such tariffs have made  Germany and Spain  solar leaders, creating a market place that has helped drive down prices. The billions of dollars of tax credits and loan guarantees. in the Obama stimulus package may have a similar effect.

Another option is for the federal to invest directly in solar    -for example, says Ken Zeibel of George Washington University, but  funding the construction of giant solar plants in the desert Southwest, along with high efficiency transmission lines needed to carry the power nationwide.

In Zweibel's version of the future, the sun would satisfy more than two-thirds of the U.S. electricity needs by 2050, for an investment of about $400 billion.

''Comapared to what we just paid for the financial bailout, it's pocket change,'' he says.

Yes, Solar energy, may just save the world. Probably. Eventually. But only with lots of government help.

With respectful dedication to the Leaders, Students, professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World students Society and the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Renewable Futures '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless