Since the U.S. is at war in the Middle East to protect its foreign oil interests, we have seen a rapid fluctuation in oil prices, first 35$, and 70$, and in recent days 115$` (Matthew Knight, CNN). As China, India and other nations rapidly increase their demand for fossil fuels; future fighting over energy looms large. In the meantime, power plants that burn coal, oil and natural gas, as well as vehicles everywhere, continue to pour millions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere annually, threatening the planet. Scientists, engineers, economists and politicians have proposed various steps that could slightly reduce fossil-fuel use and emissions. These steps are not enough. The U.S. needs a system to free itself from fossil fuels. My analysis is that a massive switch to solar power is the logical answer. Solar energy’s potential is off the chart. The energy in sunlight striking the earth for 40 minutes is equivalent to global energy consumption for a year. (Solar Southwest), and this shows the practicality of solar energy, but there are many other steps needed to successfully achieve this goal.

If we are to convert the country to solar power, massive amounts of land would have to be covered with photovoltaic panels and solar heating troughs. A direct-current transmission backbone would also have to be constructed to send that energy efficiently across the nation. The technology is ready, and it is able to power itself on a moment’s notice. Throughout this paper, I plan on presenting a brilliant idea that could provide 70 percent of the U.S.’s electricity and 40 percent of its total energy with solar power by 2050. I projected that this energy could be sold to consumers at rates equivalent to today’s rates for usual power sources. The federal government would have to invest billions over the next 40 years to complete the entire nationwide transformation by 2050. That investment is considerable, but the payoff is greater. Solar plants consume little or no fuel, saving billions of dollars year after year. The infrastructure would replace about 300 large coal-fired power plants and 300 more large natural gas plants and all the fuels they consume (John Nielson, EDF). The plan would effectively eliminate all imported oil, essentially cutting U.S. trade deficits and easing political tension in the Middle East and elsewhere. If all goes according to plan, by 2050 U.S. carbon dioxide emissions would be well over 60% percent below 2005 levels, putting a major stop on global warming (EPA). This shows the projected efficiency of the project, and how good it would be for our current lifestyles.

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In the past few years the cost to produce photovoltaic cells and their infrastructure has dropped significantly, opening the way for large-scale urban and citywide deployment. Various cell types exist, but the least expensive panels today are thin films made of cadmium telluride (Scott Aluodes, HOWSTUFFWORKS).  In my plan, by 2050 photovoltaic technology would provide almost 3,000 gigawatts. We would need 30,000 square miles of photovoltaic arrays to be put up (A.Leitner, B.Owens, Platt’s Research and consulting). Although this area may sound enormous, installations already in place show that the land required for each gigawatt-hour of solar energy produced in ...

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