Solar panels
transmissions lines with rated voltage of ±800 kV and transmission power of 5 GW of each line. These lines will go up to several 1000 km over land, and the submarine cable lines will bridge the Mediterranean Sea, spanning 100 km and go down to a depth of up to 2000m. The twenty lines which should complete this journey are currently expected to all be in place by 2050. 6 If projects like this were scaled up, we can be optimistic about how likely transmission across the world could be. Evidence is already in place with the submarine transatlantic telecommunication lines spanning from continent to continent. If we could lie the UHVDC transmission lines alongside these, we would already have a blueprint for linking much of the world. If one were to ask when this transition could be completed, we would need to be realistic and predict that this project would exceed the ‘net zero by 2050 mark’. Already the DESERTEC project is only likely to be finished in 2050; so upscaling this for global use by 2050 is close to impossible. But this very difficulty should be an incentive to complete the project as soon as possible to avoid hitting many of the environmental tipping points. We need to future-proof this plan. If you glance back at figure 1, it is obvious that we need to reduce our energy growth to zero or even into the negatives for us to rely on solar panels; otherwise, every inch of land is covered by solar panels. It is worth noting that the area calculations do not count any gaps between solar panels including the frames. The solar panels are also the cheaper-to-manufacture panels which convert around 15% of the sun's energy into electricity. For this reason, restrictions on the maximum energy both products and households can use need to be installed and, alongside this, although it sounds counterintuitive, the increase in energy efficiency technologies needs to decrease. This is because of what is known as the Jevons paradox. 7 However, I do not believe that such technologies cannot be part of the solution. I do believe, though, that the way in which we treat them should not be that, because they have improved, we can use more of them, but rather, because they have improved, we can use less of them. Since the start of the Anthropocene, we are yet to see a much-needed decrease in our consumption of fossil fuels. Disappointingly, although we have seen a positive increase in renewables, they have not changed the amount of fossil fuels that are burnt annually. 8 Instead, they have just added to the amount of energy that we use. 9 To change this, we must ensure that fossil fuels stay in the ground. On a more positive note, it is worth mentioning that the future of solar panels looks increasingly bright with technological breakthroughs being made regularly with a new multi-junction Gallium arsenide (GaAs) photovoltaic cell having an outstanding conversion rate of the s un’s energy into electricity of up to 40%. 10 Hence, less space will be required. In conclusion, a change to green energy must occur and solar energy looks like the most promising sustainable technology. There are the increasingly effective Gallium arsenide photovoltaics, lithium- ion batteries that are lighter and capable of better energy retention, and UHVDC transition lines tha mean that the energy can be shared. Ever since the invention of solar panels our use of them has grown rapidly, yet if we do not make absolutely sure that fossil fuels stay in the ground, then our history tells
6 Humpert 2012. 7 Alcott 2005. 8 Ritchie 2022. 9 Ritchie 2020. 10 France 2022: 1121-1129.
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