Solar Power -- The Math Doesn't Work

This is in response to comments I have received regarding my earlier posts about solar energy. In those comments, no one provided any numbers, which meant the comments did not add anything to the discussion and weren't worth posting.

The numbers are at this link.

Solar energy contributes the least of the various forms of renewable energy. Of the three (wind, solar, and geothermal), geothermal contributes the most.

In 2011, renewable forms (all types) of energy accounted for 2.1% of global energy consumption, up from 0.7% in 2001.

As recently as 2007, from CNN:

But if you equate the level of seriousness with which world governments treat solar power with the actual amount of solar energy generated globally, the figures aren't that reassuring. According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2007, solar, wind and geothermal combined only account for around 1 percent of the world's electricity generation, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) putting solar power's contribution to the global energy supply at just 0.039 percent. In the United States, solar power meets less than 0.01 percent of electricity needs, according to the Los Angeles Times.

To repeat: globally, solar power's contribution to the global energy supply was less than 0.04 percent in 2007. Zero point zero four per cent.

In the US: 0.01 percent. Solar power's contribution to the US energy supply was about 0.01 percent. If we double that: 0.02 percent. Double that again, and we are up to a whopping 0.04 percent. If we double that again, we are up to an even more whopping 0.08 percent, not even 0.1 percent.

I am unable to think of one of anything in which 0.1 percent even means anything. That's a rounding error in almost any endeavor.

Worse: Solar panels/solar energy as presently used in most situations does not allow dual use of the surface area. See Apple's new complex in North Carolina.

Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands have suspended all renewable energy initiatives, based on what I've read and posted in the past. I'm sure folks can find links that suggest otherwise.

I probably won't post any comments so don't write any long notes in reply.

*******************

Two things tire me out: my granddaughters and comments suggesting that solar energy will make a difference in global energy in the next century.