Daedalus, ancient Greece’s genius inventor, hasn’t been the same since losing his child, Icarus, to the Sun. But suddenly, he’s suspiciously reinvigorated and has expressed interest in buying the Sun from Helios, the Sun God himself. Some rumors hold that Daedalus is aspiring to destroy it to avenge Icarus— or channel its immense power towards other imprudent aims.
Whatever the reason, this is a job for the divine accountant; top-ranked financial analyst to the world’s movers and shakers, its literal titans of industry. When it comes to boiling complex systems of intrinsic value down to monetary sums, he’s your guy. Once gathered, Daedalus remarks that Helios might as well relinquish the Sun, since it’s bound to die anyways, which is chilling news to Helios. But the divine accountant interrupts. “The Sun provides Earth with all its energy aside from geothermal and nuclear. As of 2023, the global solar market was worth between $100 and 300 billion. Wind energy, which comes from the Sun unevenly heating the atmosphere, was valued somewhere between $85 and 150 billion. And hydropower, generated by the Sun moving the world’s water, was worth around $230 billion. Sunshine also grows all kinds of food, and in 2022, the global agriculture market reached approximately $5 trillion.” The divine accountant knows Daedalus can’t afford the Sun and that this is more of a cry for help than anything. Helios, meanwhile, is still freshly horrified. But the divine accountant’s not done enlightening the pair. “As with any natural phenomenon, many of the Sun’s assets are tougher to quantify. Of the 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, the Sun is unremarkably medium sized. But to earthlings, it’s everything. Earth likely formed from the Sun’s leftover materials, at just the right distance for water to remain liquid, so life could evolve. The Sun also helped generate Earth’s atmosphere, which traps heat by absorbing approximately 70% of incoming solar radiation. All of this has fundamentally shaped life on Earth. So, just in case this wasn’t clear, without the Sun, Earth would be untethered, frozen, and generally inhospitable.”
“But what’s most monetarily exciting here is the future. After all, the Sun has another 5 billion years left. With the right investments, the Sun and Earth can maintain their delicate balance and their assets can be ever appreciating. Just looking directly at solar energy, the amount Earth receives from the Sun in one hour is enough to power humanity for a year. Solar panel technology only started taking off in the 1970s and has since grown at an unprecedented pace, making leaps in efficiency, affordability, and implementation. In the far future— who knows— perhaps humanity could even achieve the tantalizing theoretical physics feat of a so-called Dyson sphere or swarm that surrounds the Sun, capturing immense amounts of energy closer to the surface.”
“Overall, the Sun is valued at orders of magnitude more than the earthly economy it enables, which is worth over $100 trillion total. So, no one would be able to purchase it outright. However, suppose Helios leased the Sun’s solar energy to Daedalus for whatever his project might be. Going off what could reasonably be harvested in the near future, we can look at 2050, at which point, with the right investments, solar energy could generate an estimated 8,519 gigawatts annually. Assuming a cost of 17 cents per kilowatt-hour— the US average— really rough approximation... but one year of exclusive use might reach about... $2 trillion.”
The divine accountant is interrupted by laughter. Daedalus confirms he can't afford the whole ordeal, and thanks the divine accountant for illuminating the Sun’s immense value and his own humble place in the universe. He no longer wants to destroy anything. Helios, meanwhile, is just relieved that the Sun’s death isn’t imminent, and apologizes for the loss of Daedalus’ son. It dawns on them they actually have a lot more in common than they thought. And as is typical of finance discussions, they both leave feeling hopeful and revitalised.
