Could the Sahara Power the World?

In an article published on TheConversation, Amin Al-Habaibeh, Professor of Intelligent Engineering Systems at Nottingham University, asks the compelling question “Should we turn the Sahara Desert into a huge solar farm?”

Following is an excerpt from the article.

“The statistics are mind-boggling. If the desert were a country, it would be fifth biggest in the world – it’s larger than Brazil and slightly smaller than China and the US. Each square metre receives, on average, between 2,000 and 3,000 kilowatt hours of solar energy per year, according to NASA estimates.”

“In fact, its output would be equivalent to more than 36 billion barrels of oil per day – that’s around five barrels per person per day. In this scenario, the Sahara could potentially produce more than 7,000 times the electricity requirements of Europe, with almost no carbon emissions.”

Amin Al-Habaibeh

Read the original article here.