Solar Energy Abundance

The cluster debates whether human energy use is constrained by the sun's energy input to Earth, with most arguing that current consumption is a minuscule fraction of available solar energy, enabling vast growth via renewables, nuclear, and future tech like Dyson swarms.

πŸ“‰ Falling 0.3x Science
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Keywords

AFAIK TW US AI OK wikipedia.org YEARS EROI PW SEVEN energy sun solar earth nuclear renewable energy use renewable energy extract wind

Sample Comments

hnaccount_rng β€’ Apr 3, 2025 β€’ View on HN

We use about 1 part in 10000 of the sun's energy deposit on earth... No, we are _really_ far away from preservation of energy being a limiting problem

dwaltrip β€’ Jan 4, 2018 β€’ View on HN

This seems a bit myopic. The Earth receives less than one hundred billionth of the energy being dumped into space by the sun. Of the incredibly small portion the Earth does receive, we barely use any of it. There is plenty of energy available. We just have to harness it.

JulianMorrison β€’ Feb 21, 2021 β€’ View on HN

The answer is neither. Human energy use that causes climate harms can be replaced with renewables. Fuel can be replaced with batteries. In the longer term, the sun is absolutely pouring out energy, which largely goes to waste, and a Dyson swarm capturing a small fraction of that would satisfy the energy needs of a much larger population.

morgante β€’ Nov 26, 2016 β€’ View on HN

Right now we're using a very small percentage of the total supply of solar energy to Earth. [0]We could grow our economy by literally 1000x and still not have any worry of running out of energy coming from the sun.Your comment sounds like someone who says we shouldn't bother doing anything due to the inevitable heat death of the universe.[0] https:&#x

manzanarama β€’ Jul 24, 2023 β€’ View on HN

What resoruces are you talking about? Seems like everything can be solved with enough energy and the earth can surely produce enough energy through nuclear.

ls612 β€’ Nov 4, 2023 β€’ View on HN

Human energy usage is 1/100,000th of insolation you don’t need to worry about this.

HDThoreaun β€’ Jan 6, 2023 β€’ View on HN

There is a limited amount of energy we can harness on this planet. Seems extremely difficult to believe it can continue to grow exponentially forever.

alttag β€’ May 11, 2012 β€’ View on HN

> Earth's energy income will always be limited by the Sun's energy output.This seems to discount tidal, wind, and geothermal energy sources. Wearable devices that capture kinetic movements are a possibility too. As technology progresses, efficiency increases.While what you're saying seems theoretically possible, it also seems a long way off (perhaps several millennia).

megaman821 β€’ Aug 13, 2021 β€’ View on HN

No, the Earth reflects more waste energy back into space in a few minutes than we use all day. Nearly unlimited renewable energy is available with today's technology but there are political and economic problems to solve first before that can become a reality.

chime β€’ Jun 22, 2012 β€’ View on HN

It's not electricity. It's energy. Electricity is just a medium for transferring energy from source to destination. The amount of usable energy at our disposal is proportional to the level of technological advancement. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale