Responsible Solar Applications
To start, we first looked at a 2019 report from the U.S. Geological Survey, which attempts to calculate the proportion of land in each county of the U.S. mainland taken up by parking lots in 2012. That research estimates that parking lots cover 13,778 square miles, or 0.47% of the U.S.’ total contiguous land area. If we take 50% of that land—per the requirement of the French law—we would have 4,822 square miles on which to install solar. Going off industry standard sizes for 400 watt solar panels, that’s enough land to install 3,376 GW of solar capacity…Read full article here.
Big-box stores and shopping centers have enough roof space to produce half of their annual electricity needs from solar, according to a report from nonprofit Environment America and research firm Frontier Group. Leveraging the full rooftop solar potential of these superstores would generate enough electricity to power nearly 8 million average homes, the report concluded, and would cut the same amount of planet-warming emissions as pulling 11.3 million gas-powered cars off the road. …Read full article here.
Australia will be the first to be equipped with a ‘solar facade’ that will help it generate more power than it needs…Read full article here.
On February 16, 2023, experts, advocates, and decision makers convened for “Solar on highways and parking lots,” a legislative briefing webinar hosted by Environment America to discuss legislation to take advantage of underutilized, developed areas around the country for more clean energy generation. Speakers highlighted the vast potential of solar on parking lots and highways in states across the country…Read full article here.
An example brownfield solar development is the 50 MW Sunnyside Solar Project that’s being developed south of Houston, with 2 MW from the project designated for community solar. Located on a former landfill, that had been abandoned for 50 years, the development is expected to become the nation’s largest urban brownfield solar farm. The 240-acre plot will provide enough electricity to power up to 10,000 homes…Read full article here.
