Can Solar Rooftops Power the World?

What dual use solar implementations pique your interest? Secure your privacy with Surfshark! Enter coupon code UNDECIDED for an extra 4 months free at surfshark.deals/undecided If you liked this, check out Why This Window Heat Pump Is Genius https://youtu.be/KNlDu_ZHIo8?list=PLnTSM-ORSgi7uzySCXq8VXhodHB5B5OiQ

If not roof tops, just cover the open car parks :)

My rooftop solar was far easier to get setup than I expected. My condition's aren't ideal and I can't cover 100% of my power usage every day, but it does certainly offset the majority of my usage. The main restriction for me was the shape of my roof doesn't really lend itself to a very large array.

Here in The Netherlands providers are now charging people for overproduction of solar which is fed back into the grid, because we have so much solar. The grid, which is very modern, can't handle the amount of extra power on those days. For a long time people were paid for overproduction. A drastic change and every new home today is built with solar included.

I live in South Australia. We had massive government feed in incentives 10+ years ago to get people to adopt rooftop solar. It has worked great for our state with some days over 100% of our power coming from renewables.... South Australia has made significant strides in renewable energy, with solar power playing a substantial role. As of recent reports, solar power contributes significantly to the state's electricity grid. For instance, rooftop solar alone can supply up to 26.3% of South Australia's energy needs during peak production times, sometimes accounting for as much as 92% of local demand during the day. In total, South Australia has around 2 gigawatts (GW) of solar PV generating capacity, which includes both rooftop and large-scale solar installations. The state's efforts have led to remarkable achievements, such as a continuous period where wind and solar met 100% of local electricity demand for over 10 days. This impressive integration of solar power into the grid has positioned South Australia as a leader in renewable energy adoption in Australia and globally.

In Southern California some forward looking businesses like Kaiser Permanente cover their parking lots with solar. This is fantastic because not only are they getting dual use out of land, the shade keeps cars cool. I think parking lot solar should be everywhere.

This idea is the most sane regarding to all this going green since the past decade. I never understood what is the benefit of moving solar panels far away from homes, onto fields and in exchange they tried to put vegetable farms on the rooftops.

Here in Australia we have the highest uptake of domestic solar panels in the world. One thing that is becoming more evident is that to make the most of domestic solar they need to be coupled with batteries, wether owned by the household or a local community battery. There is also a lot of work to be done on the regulations around feeding power from the panels and batteries into the grid. There is a lot of evidence that agri-solar combinations have great benefits in a hot dry country like Aus

Certainly could make a difference - power companies will fight for their coal plants and their monopolies

The first step would be to mandate solar on the roof of every new building or every new car park.

Instead of building solar farms in fields, meadows and cut forests for it. A much better spot is parking lots. With the added benefit it offers a roof and shade for people/cars in that parking lot. And those big parking lots are usually next to big users of power when those panels produce like big stores. shopping centres and airports...

an option especially for north america: solar cell covered open parking lots. they are already easily accessible, people want to park in the shade, EV-drivers want to charge their cars. another overlooked area: the grassy areas between runways on larger airports. sure, if there is a bad runway excursion, the panes will be broken, but these things happen rarely. honestly, if everything is done correctly, there will be enough solar energy production, that it is somewhat sufficiant during winter times. which means, during summer, it's way too much, might attract businesses, that are so energy hungry, that even running for half a year on very cheap solar power, and shutting off during expensive times, could be economically viable.

Please explain how building a solar farm can "soak up" enough water to threaten the viability of local water supplies. I don't see the connection. How is water used when building a utility scale PV installation?

All of the ones you mentioned are good. I really like the panels over canals because in the desert where canals are commonly found they actually help preserve water. One you didn't mention is solar panels over parking lots. It is a lot of flat open space and I wish were something that were more common. People love parking in the shade so why not under solar panels? This would be similar to rooftop solar as transmission costs would be negligible. It could also have some added benefits of making cars less hot in the summer and potentially save kids lives if they are accidentally left in the car.

Solar panels and batteries on every home would help (some) with the infrastructure problem, too. Generate most of the power "on-site" and you don't need better transmission lines than we have now.

I love solar and renewables. But I'll never understand using good farm able land when we have roof tops and ugly parking lots everywhere. Every large parking lot should be required to have solar installed over top of it in the US. The cars get covered parking, and we get electricity. It's a win win.

Hey Matt! I am a PhD student and I study the expansion of utility-scale solar and dual-use applications (agrivoltaics). Thanks so much for making this video! I love to discuss with people about the land use tradeoffs between residential and utility PV. I’m glad that you mentioned context dependency — this is a huge point that I stress in my research. Solar MUST be developed to fit the context of the region, both physical and cultural. Also: the opposite of NIMBY is either “Please in my backyard” (PIMBY) or “Yes in my backyard” (YIMBY), straight from the literature! :)

I am only 2 minutes in, and I REALLY Appreciate that you're talking about all the problems with solar farms instead of pretending they are perfect like everyone else I've heard from

I know this is a pipe dream but I wish profit didn't control Everything and we could see a wide spread social project where all buildings got solar onto their roofs.

Solar can power the mid-latitudes. The higher, +/- 50° not so much. Winter comes. Best wishes all.