Ignore the extra construction costs from having to build everything at once. Just assume the average cost now.What I am focused on is you are no longer allowed to have diesel generator backups at the plants. You ca use whatever storage technology is currently available, but you now have to provide 24/7 power.
We have somelocal exaplesof ths. Sartingfrom scratch many areas without landline phone service adoted cell phones. Using sol energy and wind the service eems t work without many flaws. I suspect that even using current technology in at least 1/3 of the US the cost pr unt ul be much wer because of the scale of production required. Of course some wer uses culdbe eliminatedsuch a outdoor lctric advertising. Realstically if we ever populate Mars the first thing we'd set up is solar electric generation. Overallthe resolar and wind oud be less than what we' doing ow. Yahoo garbles most f my psts it's not ad speling!
Interesting that you think there should be expansion of solar panels, but not batteries. Typical of global warming denier thinking. Obviously battery technology is improving considerably. Just look at what's happened to cell phones in the last couple decades. When fossil fuel runs out, batteries will be able to take up the slack. And electricity will be considerably cheaper than it is today.
It would depend on energy efficiency, other forms of renewable energy other than solar, the general trend of the economy, and above all on HOW fossil fuels were phased out.
No one is suggesting to eliminate all fossil fuels, I suspect over time we will eliminate most of it. Solar is the most expensive form of renewable energy but even solar on the roof is cheaper during the few hours the the sun shines then buying it off the grid during that period. While solar panels continue to get cheaper every year, storage on the other hand is still very expensive and the combined costs makes going off-grid not worthwhile for most people. For me it would cost 100 - 120 dollars a month, for both electricity and transportation, (we travel about 500 km per month) In addition I would still need to heat my home (currently natural gas) , for example by burning wood, which brings pollution problems. Using methane from landfills might well be a better option, but that is not available where I live (yet) To calculate what you as an individual would need to spend today, there are just to many variables, like the size of your home, the location, the mode of transportation etc, The best option is to use one of the on-line calculators to calculate what it would cost you to go off-grid and compare with other people in your area, for real world cost calculations. I doubt it is worthwhile going off-grid for you right now, battery technology needs to improve substantially and even the Tesla powerwall is not competitive in lost markets. Currently I am saving up money so I can install solar panels to reduce the cost of electricity during the day, especially in the summer months as my on-peak rate ($0.16/KWH) is more then double my off-peak rate and the rates are likely to go up, while solar panel prices are coming down. Due to my location, going off-grid is not an option for me and building permits, requiring an engineer report, are a major obstacle and could potentially cost more then the system I want to install.
It will depend on how the bureaucrats handle it. Solar energy is the most abundant energy resource on earth – 173,000 terawatts of solar energy strikes the Earth continuously. That's more than 10,000 times the world's total energy use. Building a system that harnesses and controls all of that energy is a HUGE investment. Adding wind power and geothermal energy production systems is another HUGE investment. Leaving ALL original investment costs out of the equation would only leave maintenance costs. I doubt that the environmentalists would want anything less than a socialistic approach in dolling out all of that energy to individual families and businesses who are environmentally friendly. Capitalism would no longer exist. BIG GOVERNMENT would be controlling 100% of the energy through the environmental Nazis. Energy would be very cheap to ALL conformists. Environmental Nazis would control the policing of energy use. Food and clothing manufacturing will also be controlled by the Environmental Nazis. Everyone will work for $15 per hour (even the President of the New World Order - aka United Nations) Environmental Utopia! Game over! (tic) Everyone's monthly budget will be controlled by Environmental Nazis. $50 per month per working person and $0 for all non-working persons. Never to change again. If 50% of the World's population is working, then The WORLD GOVERNMENT will take in $180 billion per month or $2.6 trillion per year to maintain the Global Energy Grid. If we throw in the other 25% of the World's part time workers (1.8 billion), and throw in $25 each per month, then The WORLD GOVERNMENT could add an additional $540 billion to their monopoly on energy supply. That's a total of $3.14 trillion yearly. (Hope that's enough.) Perfect weather and a perfect society. I'm already signing up. Where do I sign? Does that mean marijuana is free also? Health care? Transportation? Who's gonna build it and who will be in-charge of it? I'll help for free.
