I've solved the world's energy problems. Well, to give due credit, my boss and I did out on our lunchtime "health walk" (yes me!).

And no, it doesn't involve harnessing the steam coming off my shirt after a quick perambulation round Headington Hill Park!

For a few years now I've been dimly aware of some statistic that the energy from the sun that reaches the planet's surface is so enormous overall that just a few hundred square miles of hot desert covered with the right kind of solar panels/collectors/converters could supply every drop of the world's current energy use from fossil, nuclear, and all other large commercial sources and a whole load more.

And I found this map at Wikipedia tonight:

Basically it shows in the orange areas the relative amounts of solar energy that hits the surface and the little black disks are the area required on each continent to between them supply the entire planet's energy needs.

But every time I've thought about it the nagging thought has come along, what about transmission loss? Just how do you get all that electricity from Mali to Manchester? And I mentioned it out walking today and the boss had an instant answer - you don't. If the solar potential is so great why not use it to power hydrogen extraction plants for fuel cells?

Bingo. What's wrong with that then? Sun, sea, sand and power cells...better than sex - well, at least all those exhibitionists amongst you will be able to keep the lights on still....:)

You could even use it, I suppose, to water the deserts. Surely the amount of money we are storing up in disposal costs for nuclear waste, current and future, could be well put to developing this sort of thing. These people seem to be doing a "Sterling" job developing the technology.

Failing that, personally, I would really love to live in one of these: