Consider this one amazing fact about the enormous potential of solar: in a single hour, the amount of power from the sun that strikes the Earth is more than the entire world consumes in a year. This makes solar energy, by far, the largest energy resource on the Earth.
While estimating this potential largely depends on what factors are taken into account, according to Sandia National Labs, globally we currently use only about .5% of this potential, or about 63,300,000 daily megawatt hours out of 401,850,000 potentially available.
The following comparisons further underscore the tremendous potential of solar energy:
- One year’s worth of solar energy reaching the surface of the Earth would be twice the amount of all non-renewable resources, including fossil fuels and nuclear uranium.
- The amount of solar energy that hits the Earth every second is equivalent
to 4 trillion 100-watt light bulbs.
- The solar energy that reaches one square mile in a year is equivalent to 4 million barrels of oil.