For awhile I’ve intended to quantify the rate of energy received by the Earth from the Sun and how that relates to our current rate of usage, to better understand the practicality of solar power generation on a massive scale. Wikipedia comes to the rescue (via dKos), summarizing that data handily and with cool graphics. The percentage of the Earth covered by those black discs is heartening: for the vast amount of energy we consume, it’s still minute compared to what’s given to the planet every day.