Perspective on War

Perspective on War

By Dave Jarvis
July 06, 2008

The United States has spent billions on the Iraq War. Think about this:

Estimated cost of war: $534,414,300,000
Average price of a solar panel: $820.45

That money could buy 651 million solar panels. Now consider:

The United States used 3.816 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity in 2005.
Sunshine hits the continental United States an average of 7.31 hours per day.
At 180 watts, each panel would generate about 1.32 kWh per day.
Which is 860 million kWh per day, or 314 billion kWh per year.

That money could have paid for 8% of the United States' yearly electric bill.

Yet 35% of the 2005 U.S. annual electricity bill would have been met using the projected U.S. military budget ($2.3 trillion from 2008 to 2012), if those funds were invested in solar panels.

Calculator

Use the following form to estimate how much of the U.S. electrical needs could be met if funds spent on stupid things (like war) were invested in solar power. Here's what you need to know to use the calculator:

Panel Budget: Cost of the stupid thing (e.g., war) that should have been spent on solar panels.
Panel Price: Cost of a solar panel.
Panel Watts: Electricity produced by one solar panel.
Daily Sunshine: Amount of sunlight a solar panel receives, on average.
Watts Used: Total electrical needs (of a country).

Afterwords

Cloudy days, and indirect sunlight (i.e., sunrise and sunset) would reduce the actual amount of power generated. Conversely, new solar panel technology claims 40% efficiency compared with the 17% to 22% claimed by the solar panels reviewed for this text.

In 2004 there was 62.4 billion ft² space available for roof-top solar panels, which is sufficient for the needs discussed.

The production and installation costs would reduce the actual number of solar panels that could be purchased; yet the price solar panels would plummet if manufactured in the millions.

Secondary Advantages

Decentralised electric power has other benefits:

No single point of failure.
Less electricity lost in transmission.
Lower electric bill.
Fewer power outages.
Above-ground power lines could be reduced.
Uses less wire, fewer poles, and fewer trees.
Remote areas are not an issue.
Curbs factory-based carbon-dioxide emissions.

As an indirect consequence, the mass production of on-grid solar panels would:

Decrease price of construction.
Increase power capacity per panel.
Become a major world-wide export product.
World-wide sales would reduce global emissions of carbon-dioxide.

Solar Panel Prices

Prices for Photovoltaic (PV) cells on July 6, 2008:

Product	Manufacturer	Retailer	Power (W)	Size (ft²)	Cost ($US)	Price ($/ft²)	Value ($/W)
ES-180	Evergreen Solar	Alternative Energy Store	180	16.09	839.11	52.15	4.66
NE-170U1	SHARP	Infinigi	170	14.00	787.70	56.26	4.63
PV-TD180MF5	Mitsubishi	Wholesale Solar	180	14.78	820.00	55.48	4.55
KD180GX-LP	Kyocera Solar	Wind & Sun	180	13.20	835.00	63.26	4.64
Averages			178	14.52	820.45	56.79	4.62

Prices for Photovoltaic (PV) cells on July 9, 2007:

Product	Manufacturer	Retailer	Power (W)	Size (ft²)	Cost ($US)	Price ($/ft²)	Value ($/W)
HIT 190	SANYO	Ken Solar	190	12.69	1098.00	86.52	5.78
Sharp 185	SHARP	Alter Systems	185	14.00	920.00	65.71	4.97
ES 190	Evergreen Solar	Solar Electric Systems	190	16.09	925.00	57.49	4.87
Shell 175	Shell Solar	Affordable Solar	175	14.24	873.00	61.31	4.78
Averages			185	14.25	954.00	67.76	5.10