Meter Quad

Meter Quad
The sun’s light on a bright day is about 1000 Watts per square meter. Given that the total US energy?

consumption in 2006 was about 100 Quad (quadrillion) BTU, how much land area would it have taken for sunlight to completely replace all other energy sources for that year – assume a 10 hour day (when the sun is shining). Use the following conversions: 1 BTU = 252.0 calories = 1055 joules; 1 quad BTU = 10^15 Btu = 2.931 x 10^11 kilowatt-hours.

100 quadrillion BTU = 100 * 1 quad BTU= 10^17 BTU = 2.931 * 10^13 kilowatt-hours

In order to supply 2.931 * 10^13 kilowatt-hours you will need ‘X’ units of land area — or,

1000 W/m^2 * X m^2 * 10 hours * (1 kW/1000W) = 2.931 * 10^13 kW-hours

10 X = 2.931 * 10 ^13
or X = 2.931 * 10 ^ 12 square meters,
or 2.931 trillion square meters

I hope thats right — its been a while since I’ve been out of school.