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Last Post 10/22/2008 11:59 AM by  Pat Reiff
How much crude oil could solar energy replace and how much land would it use?
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10/22/2008 8:29 AM

    I am looking for some quantitative information that would relate the amount of energy that you get from one BBL of crude oil to the average amount of energy that you would get in an average 24 hour day from a solar panel of a specific size operating at a specific latitude in the US. For example, if a 100 square meter photovoltaic panel is operating for 24 hours in NJ, how much energy does it produce? How many BBL of crude oil would be needed to produce the same amount of electrical energy? Thank you.

    Tags: solar energy, BTU, BOE, barrel of oil, MWh, solar photovoltaics

    Pat Reiff



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    10/22/2008 11:59 AM
    Wow, that's a great question! I had to look up some figures to answer...

    According to the Wikipedia (who quotes the IRS http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-99-18.pdf), a "BOE" which is a "Barrel of Oil Equivalent" , is 5.8 million BTU.
    That is equal to 6.117 Tera-Joules or 1.70 MWh. (http://www.engineeringtoo...at-units-d_664.html)

    Now we look at the solar source. According to
    http://apps1.eere.energy....ves/resources_nj.cfm
    A "flat plate" solar collector in New Jersey should be able to collect about 3500-4500 W-hr per Sq m (more in the south) (more in the summer, less in the winter) That means then a 100 square meter collector should average 0.35 to 0.45 MWh per day, which is about 0.2 - 0.265 barrels of oil per day. Time 365.25 days in a year gives 73 - 96.7 Barrels of oil per year equivalent. If a Barrel of oil is $100, that means saving up to $10,000 per year in oil, enough to pay for the solar cells in a few years. Calculating another way, 0.35 MWh per day times about $120 (cost per MWh of electricity, on average) gives an electrical energy savings of $42 a day, or $15,340 a year! However, transferring from DC to AC will give a loss, storage will give a loss, etc.

    Most houses average 2-6 KW rate, or 48-144 KWh per day, so 100 square meters is more than a typical household would need, but they would need to be able to store it during the day to use it overnight (or sell it back to the power companies, reversing their meters). In the South, our usage is highest in the summer when the solar energy is high; but in New Jersey, your usage is highest in the winter when the sunlight is less, so again you'd need storage or selling it to the power companies. This is called "Co-generation". However, 100 square meters is big for the rooftop of an average house - fortunately an average house would need less.

    According to that same web site, the entire energy use of the US could be satisfied with 9% of Nevada - a plot of land 100 miles on a side. You'd still have to move it around the country and store between day and night and summer and winter.
    http://apps1.eere.energy....es/photovoltaics.cfm

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