ext_12863 ([identity profile] james-nicoll.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] james_davis_nicoll 2005-03-09 08:26 pm (UTC)

Where did you get the various efficiencies for plants?

Call the human diet 400 watts, call the superplant 10% efficient at turning light into energy humans can use and set insolation at about 100 watts, then we need 40 m^2 per person. Any _obvious_ math errors this time?

That's about 25,000 people fed per km^2 or one million per 40 km^2. Canada needs 30x40 = 1,200 km^2, the US needs 300x40 = 12,000 km^2 and the world needs 6,000 x 40 = 240,000 km^2 to power everyone.

Definitely room to improve, there. Not that feeding people is an insurmountable problem right now but the footprint of agriculture is a pain.

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