[Aurel]

Originally Posted by The Gaijin

So how many square miles of solar cells would be needed? And what is the highest efficiency estimate for the kinds of cells being built today?

10 square miles with 10% efficient solar cells would suffice. The issue is not efficiency, but cost of those panels. High energy process involved to purify silicon puts the cost at ~ $5/W. We need to reduce it by a factor of 10 to be competitive with coal produced electricity. The current efficiency record for multijunction solar cells is ~42%, but those are way too expensive for large scale deployment.