Elon Musk: Civilization Runs on Just a Tiny Fraction of the Sun’s Energy

Elon Musk: We use only a tiny fraction of the energy we receive from the sun.

“The Earth is almost entirely solar-powered today. The only reason we're not a frozen ice ball at three kelvins is because of the sun. And the sun is responsible for all precipitation.

It's responsible for the vast majority of the ecosystem, apart from chemotrophs, at the bottom of the ocean.

There's just a tiny amount of energy that people consume to power civilization. It's actually a very tiny amount of energy relative to the amount of energy that the sun sends in our general direction.”

Interview at the Computer History Museum, 2013