Could We Power All Of Us With Solar Panels

If you wanted to power the entire u s.

Could we power all of us with solar panels.

With solar panels it would take a fairly small corner of nevada or texas or utah. For the sake of example if you are getting 5 hours of direct sunlight per day in a sunny state like california you can calculate your solar panel output this way. Japan germany and the united states are major markets for solar cells. Solar s abundance and potential throughout the united states is staggering.

Solar energy capacity increased by 17 in 2007 reaching the total equivalent of 8 775 megawatts mw. The batteries you need to store the energy to make sure you have 24 7 power is 1 mile by 1 mile. How much energy does a solar panel produce. You only need about 100 miles by 100 miles of solar panels to.

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. Assuming this power rating we would need to divide 2 75 tw by 350w which gives us the gigantic number of 7 85 billion 7 857 142 857 to be precise panels required. 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. Pv panels on just 0 6 of the nation s total land area could supply enough electricity to power the entire united states.

The seia report tallies all types of solar energy and. It can be turned into reality. Wind and solar can power most of the united states wind solar and storage could meet 90 100 of america s electricity needs. This number does look intimidating but with a large number of solar companies in u s.

Concentrating solar thermal power csp is the other method for. The solar energy industries association s 2008 u s. 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. 4 pv can also be installed on rooftops with essentially no land use impacts.

We all know solar panels work well during the day when. Thus the output for each solar panel in your array would. 5 hours x 290 watts an example wattage of a premium solar panel 1 450 watts hours or roughly 1 5 kilowatt hours kwh. Solar industry year in review found that u s.