[jyl]

Originally Posted by The Gaijin

Solar does not work at these levels of efficiency. Even at 100% you would need to cover most of the continental United States.

It sounds good, and we wish it were true, but we would need to give up on washing machines, dryers, A/C units, refrigerators, computers and TVs to make it anywhere near viable.

That is completely wrong. island911 made the same claim a couple weeks ago, so I will cut and paste my reply from http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=494142&page=2

Island, if panels were 100% efficient - your assumption, not mine - consider 100 watts solar energy per sq foot in full sun at the sunniest latitudes. 1 square mile gets 2.7 x 10^9 watts at high noon. 4 hours per day, 365 days per year, is 4 x 10^12 watt hours per year. Total electricity consumption of USA is appx 3.7 x 10^12 watt hours per year.