What If The United States Was Powered Entirely By Solar Energy?

Solar power has seen a resurgence over the last 10 years. As the technology has become cheaper and more efficient at generating electricity, it finally become economical to install on personal homes. Today, solar power comprises just 3% of the United State's total electricity, but it has the potential to generate so much more. So what would it take to power the United States entirely with solar power?

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[CoryAlbrecht]

Those are going to be some humongous batteries to get the entire USA through the night when the sun isn't shining.

[williamsmith]

Per the IPCC, the lifetime production of CO2 per kWh by power source are:
Coal: 820 grams
Natural Gas: 490 grams
Solar PV (Utility): 48 grams
Nuclear: 12 grams
Wind (Onshore): 11 grams

Nuclear has the second lowest TOTAL LIFETIME CO2 production per kWh of any power source, and nuclear's CO2 emissions are only 1/4th of those of solar.

[SagePython-eils]

I still think that nuclear fission/fusion would be way more productive and space efficient then solar.

[fauxque]

I'm on day 3 of no sun here in Florida. My panels aren't generating enough to power my slight load.
So how is solar going to power the entire country? Not only cloudy rainy days, you have this problem called night time.

[stevesmith-sbdf]

How much land would be needed for the 1000’s of GWHrs of batteries needed for electricity at night?

[evilgenius]

Really proud of NJ for doing so well on this. We're also investing pretty big in wind power.

[andersonklein]

To go 100% solar you'd need more than just batteries for your average night. Think of having a cloudier than average day over a significant percentage of the country for 2-3 days... Especially in the winter when energy would already be much more scarce... Truth is, the capacity of energy generation would have to be sized for the worst case, and then we'd still have to have 2-3 days of battery capacity to keep a reliable power grid. It is doable, but ludicrous. Wind, geothermal, nuclear, and hydro can be of a great help smoothing that issue, as can be building high capacity high voltage direct transmission lines criss crossing the nation so that power generation and consumption is more even and the transmission losses are smaller.

[CoryAlbrecht]

What is the source for that map of where there's enough sun to make solar energy viable?

[baronvon]

I believe a mention of the use in space technology would have been appropriate

[WHJBill]

Given the ACTUAL methods use to make solar usable, heavy use and mining of rare Earth minerals ... and where they come from (hint, not the US), to make solar usable is dirty and make us deal with countries that aren't very friendly (China, Russia, etc). Don't get me wrong, solar has its place ... I have over 2000 watts of panels and about 6kAh of batteries, but in order to make it work to power my entire home would cost me about $250, 000, and that includes replacing all my appliances, rewiring, the panels, the batteries, and cutting down practically every tree on my lot (the southern face of my house has 65' tall trees totally blocking the most usable sun.

Then there is the simple fact that people who live in apartment building in large cities don't even have that option. It is impossible to supply enough solar or an 20 or 30 story apartment building in cities like New York, to supply solar power only for everyone inside with such a small footprint.

[msowdal]

Look at Proviskite (sp) cells they use far more available materials, Thin film, can be litho printed and recent types have almost 30 year life like silicon cells all at a very low cost.

[meejinhuang]

It would have to cover large areas of US farm land which is not feasible. The efficiency of the panels will have to increase 100 times or higher. The future solution is to use every option except burning hydrocarbons to produce energy.

[dalejensen]

Solar is only long term viable when placed on rooftops. Farmland is to valuable to cover with solar panels.

[HomesteadEngineering]

Politics and large-scale energy policy aside, you CAN generate your own power from solar and be free of the utility company forever. Now I know it’s not for everyone. You’re going to need some DIY skills and at least $12, 000 to run your whole house rain or shine, day and night. It can be done, been doing it for almost six years now and I will have power and air conditioning no matter how hot it gets or what happens to the grid. It’s all about self-sufficiency.

[thatcoolkidjoey]

I think wind turbines is the way to go there's only 3, 500 of them in my state and we get 42% of our energy from them

[williamsmith]

Germany has spent over $550 billion trying to build out renewables, grid infrastructure, and storage, after which, per IRENA, Germany still only gets 14% of its electricity from renewables, 61% of which comes from biomass (burning trees from clear cut North American forests). Europe as a whole has spent over $1.5 TRILLION on renewables over just the last 10 years. All of those renewables, since you can't store the electricity they intermittently produce in a cost effective way (and are unlikely to be able to do so for the foreseeable future), those renewables have to be backed up by a reliable fuel source, which in Europe's case is Russian gas. How has that worked out for Germany and Europe?

In 2011, Germany had 17 nuclear power plants which provided more than 25% of the nation's total electricity. If Germany hadn't closed down its nuclear fleet and spent that $550 billion on new nuclear plants, assuming $10 billion per plant and a 10 year build time (which are double the cost and build times of Korean and Chinese nuclear plants), Germany would be generating MORE than 100% of its total electricity needs from CO2 free nuclear power. Instead, Germany went with wind and solar and is now turning back on coal plants and significantly increasing coal consumption.

[DaleNorenberg]

Solar roofs over parking lots keep cars cool and prevent the reflective heat from blacktop turning parking lots into dual purpose space!

[jamesbuchanan]

What should be pointed out is that solar panels produce “high-grade” power, in the form of electricity, while coal and gas provide “low-grade” power, in the form of heat. Low grade energy loses two-thirds to three quarters of its total to be converted into electricity. So 3 percent solar energy in the form of solar electrical panels is actually worth 9 to 12 percent coal, oil, or natural gas!

[poofpoof]

How can solar energy last when sunblocking is happening? I have barely seen the sun in a year and with those thick chemical fogs my solar is not very productive I mean it needs the sun which is barely a glow in the sky....

[williamsmith]

(4:18) "Since 2014 the average cost of solar panels has dropped nearly 70%."

You don't really talk about what has driven that drop in cost. This drop in cost has been driven by the MASSIVE increase in industrial production of solar panels in China, where the vast majority of silicon based solar panels are produced. China dominates in this area because it can produce the panels for very cheap, driven by two factors:

1) Cheapest labor in the world, in that a good portion of the silicon refinement process is done by Uighur slaves, and not metaphorical slaves (like they're underpaid sweatshop workers), but LITERAL slaves.
2) Chinese solar panels production doesn't incur costs related to environmental standards. Refining raw silicon to a level where it can be used for panels is EXTREMELY energy intensive and generally a dirty process, not too dissimilar to pig iron blast furnaces. Just like most pig iron blast furnaces, raw silicon refinement largely isn't in developed countries anymore because the cost of refining raw silicon in an environmentally acceptable way would make them prohibitively expensive. China doesn't care though. It uses VAST amounts of coal to produce the panels that get sold to renewables people in the US and Germany, and since the panels have to be replaced every 20 to 25 years, there's always going to be demand for new panels. I should said China used to use vast amounts of coal to produce panels, as in the last year, I believe all silicon refiners in China have had their operations limited to 3 days per week instead of 7 days, due to the coal shortages in China. And of course the old panels that get replaced every 20-25 years go to landfills where they leach toxic chemicals and heavy metals, because there's no regulations or requirements that they be disposed of in an environmental fashion.