Re: Reality check time?
Solar insolation is about 1kw/sqmeter at the top of the atmosphere and is 700-800w/sqmeter for most of the areas with the largest populations. Solar panels are around 22% efficient at turning that energy into electricity which yields about 170W/sqmeter of solar panel (ish).
Transportation takes much more energy than solar panels can provide in any form that is useful. The Solar Challenge cars that race across Australia aren't exactly comfortable and nobody would be using them for a school run or weekly shop. I believe that a few have been flipped over on the road from lorries passing on the other side, so they aren't particularly stable either. These are highly engineered vehicles often with the most advanced and expensive solar cell technology. Cells that might not have a very long life span or be so expensive that they would never be able to compete with grid power. It's encouraging to see the technology advance since somebody will find a way to take one of these cell technologies to a commercially viable product or they might point to ways in making current panels a bit more efficient and extend their useful lifetime.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
