Amount of Solar Energy Hitting Earth Every Second, Day, Week & Year
Is the amount of solar energy sent to Earth by the sun each day adequate to satisfy human energy needs?
Every single moment, the sunlight that reaches Earth is way more than what the whole world needs for energy in a year. If we can capture and save solar energy in a way that’s not too expensive, it can surely provide enough energy for everyone on Earth forever
173 Petawatts (PW)1 of solar energy hit the earth every second. In an hour that number jumps to 622 Exawatts (EW) of energy and in a day that’s 14.9 Zettawatts of solar energy hit the earth.
These numbers are kinda crazy, so I have added a table below of the scale of watts in order or magnitude so you can get a better grasp of it.
Sun is continuously giving its energy to Earth. And if we can utilize that well, it can literally change the power supply industry of the world. So how much energy strikes the earth?
| Scientific notation | Watts | |
|---|---|---|
| Second | 1..73e+17 | 173,000,000,000,000,000 |
| Minute | 1.038e+19 | 10,380,000,000,000,000,000 |
| Hours | 6.228e+20 | 622,800,000,000,000,000,000 |
| Day | 1.49472e+22 | 14,947,200,000,000,000,000,000 |
| Year | 5.455728e+24 | 5,455,728,000,000,000,000,000,000 |
Second
The sun sends 173 Peta Watts (PW) of energy to the Earth every second. That’s 173,000,000,000,000,000 watts or 1.73e+17 in scientific notation. According to statistics2, in 2019 the entire planet only sied 23.845 Petawatts (PW) of energy, so there is more solar energy hitting the earth every second than we use in 7 years.
Minute
Each minute 10.38 Exawatts (EW) of solar energy hit the earth from the sun. That’s 1.038e+19 or 10,380,000,000,000,000,000 watts. The planet’s energy consumption remained the same each year, this amount of power could sustain us for 451 years.
Hour
Every hour 622 Exawatts (EW) of energy hits the earth from the sun. This translates to 622,800,000,000,000,000,000 or in scientific notation it would be 6.228e+20.
Daily
Every day the sun sends 14.9 Zettawatts of solar power to the earth. That’s a staggering 14,947,200,000,000,000,000,000 Watts (1.49472e+22W) of power that people are harnessing a fraction of through the use of rooftop solar panels.
Yearly
Every year the watch is hit with 5.4 Yottawatts (YW) of solar energy. The number looks like this 5,455,728,000,000,000,000,000,000 or 5.455728e+24. That’s a wild number and more than enough to sustain all of humanity’s power needs forever.
Scale of watts (Order of Madnitude)
The scale of wattage measurement goes up in steps in orders of magnitude (x1,000) each time a little like money. Below is the scale for power in Watts.
| Scale name | Abrv | In Watts of Energy |
|---|---|---|
| Kilowatt | (kW) | 1,000W |
| Megawatt | (MW) | 1,000,000W |
| Gigawatt | (GW) | 1,000,000,000W |
| Terawatt | (TW) | 1,000,000,000,000W |
| Petawatt | (PW) | 1,000,000,000,000,000W |
| Exawatt | (EW) | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000W |
| Zettawatt | (ZW) | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000W |
| Yottawatt | (YW) | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000W |
Solar energy: interesting facts
- The entire yearly energy usage of everyone on the globe is equal to the quantity of possible sunlight that hits the Earth’s surface in one second.
- Solar energy is a costless and abundant source of energy. Despite the fact that the Sun is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from Earth3. Light travels here in less than ten minutes.
- Solar technology was first adopted by the space sector. The space industry began using solar technologies to provide power aboard spacecraft in the 1950s. The Vanguard 14, the world’s first artificial earth satellite powered by solar cells, is still in orbit, having traveled more than 6 billion miles.
- Humans utilized sunlight to spark fires with magnifying glasses as early as the 7th century B.C.,5 according to the hypothesis. The Greeks and Romans began harnessing solar power with mirrors in the third century B.C. to light their torches for religious events. Later around 20 A.D., Chinese culture documented the usage of mirrors to light their torches.
- Edmond Becquerel discovered the photovoltaic effect that explained how electricity can be produced from sunlight6 in the year 1839., which is the capacity to generate electricity using the sun’s rays. Then, in 1941, Russell Ohl produced the first solar panel cell, and Bell Laboratories released the first commercial panel in 1954.
- There are two types of solar technology: active and passive. Active solar technology includes PV cells and solar heat collectors that harvest solar energy. Building rooms to optimize air circulation and arranging space to make use of natural light are examples of passive technology.
Why should we focus on Solar Energy?
The sun produces plenty of energy to meet the entire world’s energy needs, yet unlike coal and oil, it will never run out. Solar power’s main constraint as a renewable energy source is our capacity to convert sunlight into electric energy in an optimal and cost-effective manner.
Renewable energy is self-renewing, and green energy has a negligible impact on the global carbon footprint. Green energy is renewable in all forms, although some forms of renewable energy are not green. Solar energy is both renewable and environmentally friendly, as the sun will constantly generate energy, and it does not release greenhouse gases such as CO2.
Solar power is an essential source of energy in the transition to clean energy sources because the sun delivers more energy than we’ll ever need.
The increasing demand for renewable energy
As a result, day by day, solar panels are becoming a more and more popular alternative form of energy.
In 2018, solar PV capacity reached 505.5 GW, up slightly more than 100 GW from the previous year (2017), when it was 405 GW.7 Solar panels are becoming the most cost-effective choice for electricity generation, both in-home and commercial applications, as well as in utility projects.
The global rise of solar panels is being aided by markets all around the world. In 2018, eleven countries added more than 1 GW of new capacity, up from nine in 2017 and seven in 2016. The data back up solar power’s booming story. While most countries still require some sort of support scheme for solar PV, interest in completely competitive systems is rapidly developing.
How solar energy reaches the earth?
Heat energy transferred through radiation is as familiar as, if not more familiar than, daylight. About 93 million miles distant, the Sun is a massive heat reactor. Energy is transmitted from a starting point to the space surrounding it by electromagnetic waves in heat transfer via radiation, which does not involve contact with materials. Other types of heat transfer are unable to provide any of the energy that reaches Earth through space’s vacuum. The Sun’s energy reaches the Earth through radiation, as you can see by standing outside on a beautiful day and letting the sun’s rays warm your face.
Unless its temperature is at absolute zero, at which point its molecules entirely stop moving, everything in your environment is always radiating. A scoop of ice cream, for example, emits heat, but because it is in the infrared section of the spectrum, it isn’t visible as light. Infrared scopes, as you’ve certainly seen in movies or on television, can see it.
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- CHRISTOPHER J.,(2010), Solar energy: principles and possibilities, Accessed on:7th April 2024: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3184/003685010X12626410325807
- Statista, (2023), Net electricity consumption worldwide in select years from 1980 to 2022, Accessed on:7th April 2024: https://www.statista.com/statistics/280704/world-power-consumption/
- NASA, (N.a), Our Sun Facts, NASA Science, Accessed on: 13th May 2024, https://science.nasa.gov/sun/facts/#:~:text=Size%20and%20Distance,-Our%20Sun%20is&text=The%20Sun%20is%20about%2093,are%204.37%20light%2Dyears%20away.
- NASA, (2024), NASA space science data coordinated archive, Accessed on: 13th May 2024, https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1958-002B
- Freedom Solar Power, (2018) , 50 SOLAR POWER FACTS, Accessed on: 13th May 2024, https://freedomsolarpower.com/blog/50-facts-about-solar-power#:~:text=PEOPLE%20FIRST%20USED%20SOLAR%20ENERGY,light%20torches%20for%20religious%20gatherings.
- SolEnergySystemsInc, (N.a), EDMOND BECQUEREL: THE MAN BEHIND SOLAR PANELS , Accessed on: 13th May 2024, https://solenergy.com.ph/solar-panel-philippines-edmond-becquerel/#:~:text=The%20Discovery,would%20create%20an%20electric%20current%E2%80%9D.
- Soleenergy, (N.a), Edmond Becquerel: The Man Behind Solar Panels, Accessed on: 13th May 2024, https://solenergy.com.ph/solar-panel-philippines-edmond-becquerel/#:~:text=The%20Discovery,would%20create%20an%20electric%20current%E2%80%9D.
- The World Added Nearly 30 Percent More Solar Energy Capacity in 2017, Â (2018), Accessed on: 13th May 2024, https://e360.yale.edu/digest/the-world-added-nearly-30-percent-more-solar-energy-capacity-in-2017
