The Immense Potential of Concentrated Solar Energy
Global energy demand: 25000 GWh
The sunlight that falls on just a small portion of Texas has the potential to generate enough energy to power the entire planet, highlighting the immense capability of solar energy as a sustainable and renewable resource.
Concentrated solar energy can power the whole world
Solar energy, radiation from the Sun, is Earth's primary source of energy. According to NASA, "Over an entire year, approximately 342 watts of solar energy fall upon every square meter of Earth. This is a tremendous amount of energy—44 quadrillion (4.4 x 1016) watts of power, to be exact. As a comparison, a large electric power plant produces about 1 billion (1x 109) watts of power. It would take 44 million power plants to equal the energy from the Sun."
The potential for solar energy is enormous. It has become increasingly attractive as a renewable energy source because of its inexhaustible supply and nonpolluting character, starkly contrasting the finite fossil fuels coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Although solar energy is free, there is a high cost for its collection, conversion, and storage that limits its exploitation to create a carbon-neutral economy.
HELIOSAND offers a different approach to harnessing the Sun’s energy.
Where do most carbon emissions come from?
Applications of Concentrated Solar Technology
HELIOSAND’s current focus is on converting mineral and other waste into valuable resources, minimizing carbon footprint and providing a sustainable alternative to land-filling and ocean dumping.
However, the potential for concentrated solar energy to power many other industrial applications is immense - heating, burning, cutting, melting and drying. Many industrial processes are steam-powered, requiring heating to 400 degrees Celsius. Steam powered manufacturing until now has only been possible using natural energy or fossil fuels, and represents 12% of the global energy consumption.
HELIOWATER - Desalination
Roughly three per cent of the water on Earth is freshwater. Of that, a tiny 1.2 percent can be used as drinking water. Most of our drinking water comes from rivers and streams. The rest is locked up in ice caps, glaciers, permafrost, or deep underground. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 2 billion people worldwide need better access to drinking water. And half of the world's population could be living in areas facing water scarcity by 2025, according to UNICEF. Solar energy is currently used to power desalination plants that convert seawater into freshwater, which is particularly useful in arid regions where freshwater is in short supply. HELIOSAND's concentrated solar technology has the potential to significantly expand desalination on an industrial scale.