The annual global energy consumption of humankind is 5 x 10²⁰ Joules; roughly equivalent to the amount of sunshine that reaches our planet in one hour. The amount of energy in one year of sunshine is larger than the Earth’s entire remaining supply of fossil fuels and uranium.

Covering 1% of Continental U.S. with 20% efficient PV systems would provide all energy needs of the US.  Covering 0.2% of the surface would generate all the electricity that the US consumes. To put this number in perspective: roads cover 1.5% of the U.S.

At 1366 Technologies we were so impressed with size of the available solar resources that we named the company after Earth’s Solar Constant of 1366 W/m².

The Solar Constant is the average amount of solar radiation in Watts per square meter just above the atmosphere, as measured over the last 30 years by the Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitors (ACRIM) on a number of NASA satellites.