Solar power from Saharan sun could provide Europe's electricity, says EU · Huge £35bn supergrid would pool green sources · Brown and Sarkozy back north African plan Alok Jha, science correspondent The Guardian, Wednesday July 23, 2008 Article history A concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in Spain that uses panels to refl ect light on to a central tower to produce electricity. Similar plants are proposed for north Africa. Photograph: AP A tiny rectangle superimposed on the vast expanse of the Sahara captures the seductive appeal of the audacious plan to cut Europe's carbon emissions by harnessing the fierce power of the desert sun. Dwarfed by any of the north African nations, it represents an area slightly smaller than Wales but scientists claimed yesterday it could one day generate enough solar energy to supply all of Europe with clean electricity.Speaking at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona, Arnulf Jaeger-Walden of the European commission's Institute for Energy, said it would require the capture of just 0.3% of the light falling on the Sahara and Middle East deserts to meet all of Europe's energy needs.
· Huge £35bn supergrid would pool green sources · Brown and Sarkozy back north African plan
A concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in Spain that uses panels to refl ect light on to a central tower to produce electricity. Similar plants are proposed for north Africa. Photograph: AP
A tiny rectangle superimposed on the vast expanse of the Sahara captures the seductive appeal of the audacious plan to cut Europe's carbon emissions by harnessing the fierce power of the desert sun.
Dwarfed by any of the north African nations, it represents an area slightly smaller than Wales but scientists claimed yesterday it could one day generate enough solar energy to supply all of Europe with clean electricity.
Speaking at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona, Arnulf Jaeger-Walden of the European commission's Institute for Energy, said it would require the capture of just 0.3% of the light falling on the Sahara and Middle East deserts to meet all of Europe's energy needs.
Or will they take ideas from the stranded wind initiative in the US and use the electricity to create useful burnable chemicals ? keep to the Fen Causeway
But this makes sense. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
which would probably be useful for something else as well.
what about glass? all that sand..
i know it's heavy, but plastic might get expensive. (as it should, until we figure out how not to pollute so much). ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
