Could We Power All Of Us With Solar Panels

Japan germany and the united states are major markets for solar cells.

Could we power all of us with solar panels.

4 pv can also be installed on rooftops with essentially no land use impacts. Consumes around 4000 billion kwh of electricity. This is derived from the fact that every year the u. Solar s abundance and potential throughout the united states is staggering.

If you wanted to power the entire united states with solar panels it would take a fairly small corner of nevada or texas or utah. You only need about 100 miles by 100 miles of solar panels to power the entire united states. The batteries you need to store the energy to make sure you have 24 7 power is 1 mile by 1 mile. Pv panels on just 0 6 of the nation s total land area could supply enough electricity to power the entire united states.

This study considered only wind and solar. Concentrating solar thermal power csp is the other method for capturing energy from the sun and seven southwestern states have the technical potential and land area to site enough csp to supply more than four times. About 7 86 billion solar panels would be needed to power the u s. The seia report tallies all types of solar energy and in 2007 the united states installed 342 mw of solar photovoltaic pv electric power 139 thermal megawatts mw th of solar water heating 762 mw th of pool heating and 21 mw th of solar space heating and cooling.

Now if we cover an area of the earth 335 kilometers by 335 kilometers with solar panels even with moderate efficiencies achievable easily today it will provide more than 17 4 tw power. You only need about 100 miles by 100 miles of solar panels to. With tax incentives and efficient coordination with energy companies solar electricity can often pay for itself in five. This means an astounding consumption of 12 000 kwh per year per capita.

After all we don t have dual suns that permit us to soak up solar energy 24 hours a day and there will be inevitable interruptions in power relay due to maintenance or any number of incidents.