Question

With current technologies and solar collectors on the ground, the best we can hope for is that solar cells will generate an average (day and night) power of about 230 watts/m2watts/m2 . What total area would we need to cover with solar cells to supply all the power needed for the United States

Answer 1

The question is missing

The total annual U.S. energy consumption is about 2 × 10^20 J

Step-by-step explanation:

So, if the annual Energy is

2 × 10^20J

Let find the power usage of this energy

We know that

Power = Energy / Time

Now, the time is one year, so we have to convert one year to seconds

1year = 365days

365days = 365 × 24hours

365 × 24 hours = 365 × 24 × 3600 seconds

Then,

1year = 31,536,000seconds

Then,

P = E / T

P = 2 × 10^20 / 31,536,000

P = 6.342 × 10^12 Watts

The power intensity is given as

I = P/A

Then,

A = P / I

Where,

P is power, I is intensity and A is area

Given that, I = 230 W/m²

A = 6.342 × 10^12 / 230

A = 2.757 × 10^10 m²