Reply #119: just in magnitude. [View All]

[DrGregory]

>That sounds like atomic bomb stuff!

Only in regard to the amount of energy.

A typical 1 Gwe electric power plant, of
ANY type; in a single day produces the
energy equivalent of a 20 kiloton atomic
bomb - like the Nagasaki bomb.

If that power plant is a solar plant that
aspires to completely replace a conventional
power plant by providing energy 24/7; then
by sundown it needs to store about 15 kilotons,
the energy equivalent of the Hiroshima bomb;
in some type of energy storage system to take
it through the night until it can see the sun
again.

You don't get an intuitive feel for how much
energy these power plants are producing in a
day if one puts it in terms of calories or Joules.

However, if you put it in terms of kilotons; you
know that we are dealing with energies of a
magnitude that can destroy a city.

Dr. Greg