This is cute. But the conclusion is wrong — we can actually generate as much energy as we are currently using directly from sunlight.<p>It’s not trivial — costs $1X trillions, covers lots of land (a 300-mile square!) and will take a long time. But then, we have more paved roads than we would need land covered by solar farms, so it’s not a completely ridiculous amount of space.<p>We don’t necessarily need to sacrifice lifestyle to use energy sustainably. We just need to stop burning fossil fuels pumped/mined from underground.
> During a single round-trip from North America to Europe, the plane's jet engines would burn more energy per passenger than the passengers would be able to generate with their own muscles over their entire lifespan.