Alex Epstein

@AlexEpstein ↗

Deleted No

Hibernated No

Last Checked Feb. 3, 2023

Created

Wed Jan 25 18:05:32 +0000 2023

Likes

459

Retweets

Source

Typefully

View Raw Data

JSON Data

View on Twitter

Likely Available

Alex Epstein @AlexEpstein

The main lie of "Just a small area of solar panels can power the world": it ignores the insane cost of the necessary batteries. But it also drastically underestimates how much space solar panels require. For example, this viral Twitter post underestimates the area by some 25X. https://t.co/JvFaOn2vcB — PolitiTweet.org

Posted Jan. 25, 2023

Preceded By

Alex Epstein @AlexEpstein

Another reason the world can’t be powered by solar panels and batteries: these only provide electricity—currently 1/5 of the world’s energy. Electricity can’t power many uses of energy (flight, cargo ships) and is very costly for others (many forms of industrial process heat). — PolitiTweet.org

Posted Jan. 25, 2023

Followed By

Alex Epstein @AlexEpstein

The world uses >165,000 TWh of energy per year, which requires ~19 billion kW of power output on avg. An optimistic, real-world power density for solar projects is 10 W/m^2. To power the world, you’d need ~1.8 million km^2 of solar PV projects—about the size of Libya. https://t.co/iCvwVPtIJT — PolitiTweet.org

Posted Jan. 25, 2023