10% of Energy from Solar by 2030

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Environment America (EA) released a report titled “Building a Solar Future” this week stating that the US should aim to obtain 10% or more of its total energy consumption from the sun by 2030.

Environment America found that “a comprehensive suite of public policy strategies can remove many of the common barriers to solar energy development and help to make this vision a reality.”

And if you look at where the US sits compared to other nations on solar energy and solar technology, you can see that it really needs to put these policies into practice.

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Other than writing about the benefits of Photovoltaics (PV), Concentrating Solar Power (CSP), solar water heaters, solar space heating and cooling, solar space heating and cooling, and passive solar design, EA found that PV panels “can be installed on the roofs of 35-40 percent of homes nationwide, and solar heat collectors on 50 percent of residential roofs.” Additionally, 60-65% of commercial roof space across the nation is suitable for solar PV.

For businesses, the possibility of using natural light more has huge potential as well. “Walmart’s use of skylights in some its big box stores has cut energy costs by 15 to 20 percent by reducing the need for electric lighting.”

Powering transportation with solar power is also an issue EA brings up, whether it be buses, electric vehicles, golf carts or mini shuttles, or high-speed rail.

EA does not neglect to say, of course, that government policies need to be put in place to achieve these goals. From grants, taxes and feed-in tariffs to Renewable Energy Standards to PACE solar funding to advanced building codes to better rules and technology for net metering and selling power back to the grid to public education and workforce development to a smarter grid to continued R&D for solar technology, EA gives a comprehensive look at what is already being done and what needs to be done to achieve our solar energy potential.

Great report by Environment America! Hopefully, we will see governments follow through on these policy recommendations!

via Cooler Planet & Environment America

Image Credit: law_keven via flickr under a CC license


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Zachary Shahan

Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.

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