How much energy falls upon 1 square meter of land in one day?

Answer 1

That heavily depends on the latitude of the land, the date of the year, and the time

of day. The incident energy in any period of time will be much more if the land is located

in the Tropic Zone, for example, than if it is located in one of the Polar Regions. (This

is a big part of the reason why the Polar Regions are characterized by a lot more snow

and fur clothing, and a lot fewer banana trees, than are found in the Tropic Zone.)

Satellite data collected since 2003 indicate a total solar irradiation ... on a plane

perpendicular to the sun's rays and corrected for atmospheric attenuation ... of

1,366 watts per square meter. In one day of average cloud conditions, this totals

up to 118,022,400 joules per square meter.

This is a maximum figure. For real curved ground on the Earth's surface, this must

be corrected for seasonal axial tilt and for latitude of the particular square meter

of ground under test.

(It should be noted, however, that it's one heck of a lot of free energy, currently

being used primarily to grow decorative lawns and to keep sand and worms warm.)