Solar Energy Commercialization

SEC 501 – Fall 2020 : Homework 01

Individual Effort

(1) Problem 1

Go to the website, http://www.census.gov/popclock/, and get the current world and US

populations. Determine the nominal minimum world energy consumption in Wh if

every person lived in a nation with a Human Development Index of 0.9. Compare this

with the total energy consumption if every person used the same per capita energy as

the US

(2) Problem 2

Go to the Energy Information Administration (or a solar resource of your choosing)

and find out the World Solar Photovoltaics Installations data for the last 20 years or so.

Plot these data in Excel and use this plot to project the cumulative PV installation

going forward. Then determine what fraction this would be in the potential worldwide

need of 28TW by 2028. Hint: Use the trendline feature to fit the Excel plot to an

exponential curve.

(3) Problem 3

Go to the Energy Information Administration (or another solar resource) and find what

fraction of currently installed solar electricity systems are residential, commercial and

industrial, and utility scale for:

1. The United States, as a whole 2. Arizona 3. California