The Economics of Star Trek and Scarce Scarcity

zagubov

cepheus wrote: »

What a fascinating fact, difficult to believe.

Sun's rate of energy release 3.86×10^26 watts

mass 1.989×10^30 kg

~5000 kg per watt about four to five magnitudes greater

It must be the mass to surface area which provides this effect.

However, being slightly pedantic the Sun gives off far more, since our energy out is balanced by our chemical energy in. The Sun has to live of what it received 6 billion years ago. I'm afraid for Matrix lovers biological mechanisms aren't as efficient at generating energy per unit mass than fusion.

With regard to the earlier poster, the second law of thermodynamics is no speculative theory, overall entropy always increases for any closed system (such as the universe). It's regarded by physicists as being just as fundamental than the first law the conservation of energy.

Getting slightly back on track, this is the area required to power Germany's, EU25, and all the worlds electricity consumption if covered with photovoltaics

Some soil bacteria can convert energy over a million times faster than the sun, we're only a few thousands of times faster.

Generali

AIUI more of the heat on the Earth comes from below our feet rather than up in the air.