The sun casts enough energy on the world to power humans super easy, but I'd like a raise of hands from all the retards in class that think we're anywhere remotely close to having it a viable option to supply enough electricity. Anyone besides Ben? There are so many reasons why we're nowhere close to it being realistic. Like, not in our lifetime without a major advancement in technology. If you think we can find a cheap, reliable way to collect the power above the clouds, relay it to ground level without major losses and can store that energy for the dark hours, then yeah, we’re really close.
Right now, the best are concentrated solar power plants in the world are only supplementary for peak hours and only worth a damn if they are in a super sunny part of the world like deserts (which most of the population in the world don't live). The best design I’ve come across are parabolic mirrored troughs with piped oil running down the focal point. This oil gets heated to 500* or thereabouts. Some of this oil gets stored in insulated banks while some goes on to make steam and then recirculated through the troughs. After the sun starts going down, you pump the stored oil out to make steam. It’s a great design, but still won’t work for all hours and sure as eff doesn’t have an solar panels.
