6. The Availability of Global Solar Energy

The imminent depletion of fossil fuels, being consumed at an alarming rate, poses a real threat to the modern world. The adoption of a reliable and plentiful alternative energy source is, thus, essential for the modern world to fulfill its power demands. Hence, the attractive alternative to meet the power requirements of contemporary society would be solar energy as the most advantageous option as it is clean and abundant everywhere on the planet. This study is, therefore, employed a mathematical approach to assess the global net solar power to address global energy needs, aiming to establish a sustainable and environmentally friendly energy system for all. The computational modeling showed that the mean solar irradiance reaching the Earth’s surface is 1366 W/m²; it has been calculated considering the Earth’s diameter of 10,000,000 meridians from the North Pole to the equator considering its radius of 2/π × 10⁷ meters. Then, the total solar irradiance reaching the earth is determined as 1.73 × 10¹⁷ W, which is the result of multiplying 1366 by (4/π) × 10¹⁴, with a mean of 365.2422 days in a year and 86,400 s in a day. Hence, the net amount of solar energy that reaches the earth every year is 5.46 × 10²⁴ J that is equal to 5,460,000 EJ of energy, which is 10⁴ times greater than the earth’s total energy consumption each year which is renewable and benign to the environment.