Imagining the scale of energy storage needed for a solar US

ByRod Adams

It is always frustrating to try to have a conversation with someone who insists that wind and solar energy is all we really need. The creative people on What is Nuclear? have a published an article titled What kind of scale are we dealing with? that includes a dramatic illustration that might be useful to you someday. (Aside: You need to know that What is Nuclear? is an effort led by engineers, not English majors. I will award an unspecified prize to the person who adds a comment indicating why I provided this extra comment. End aside).

I encourage you to go to the article and review the computations, but the final answer is that storing enough electricity to allow the US to make it through the night if all of our power came from solar panels would require the equivalent of lifting about 22,000 aircraft carriers to a height equal to that of the world’s tallest building. Think about that for a while.

Rod Adams
Rod Adams

Rod Adams is Managing Partner of Nucleation Capital, a venture fund that invests in advanced nuclear, which provides affordable access to this clean energy sector to pronuclear and impact investors. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., which was one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience. He has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology, regulation, and policies for several decades through Atomic Insights, both as its primary blogger and as host of The Atomic Show Podcast. Please click here to subscribe to the Atomic Show RSS feed. To join Rod's pronuclear network and receive his occasional newsletter, click here.

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