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Solar Facts
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Solar power is never boring.
The sun is so powerful that if all the sunlight reaching Earth’s surface was harvested to its potential, annual global energy requirements could be met in only 1.5 hours! Look at a compilation of other cool solar facts below:
- Houses with certain eco-friendly elements (such as solar systems) can sell for more than their counterparts without.
- Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems produce roughly 40g CO2 eq/kWh; this is a whopping 96% less than coal.
- Regarding CO2… 37.02 tonnes is that of the country with the highest per capita CO2 emissions; the nation with the least has a carbon footprint of 0.03t/person.
- In 2020, 3% of America’s electricity generation was Solar, but it’s projected to grow to 20% by 2050!
- The demand for PV installers has been growing immensely; at least until 2030, Solar PV installers are projected to be in America’s top 5 fastest growing jobs.
- Since 2010, the cost of residential solar installation has gone ⬇️ by anywhere from 46-85%, depending on geographical location.
- In 2021, the renewable sector experienced a growth of 257GW!
- Bonus fact: Solar & Wind technologies were the fastest growing forms of renewable energy.
- Canada’s installed solar capacity saw a 13.6% increase in 2021!
- There are solar panels in outer space! The International Space Station (ISS) is powered by solar energy, converting sunlight to electricity.
- Australia is the country with the most solar capacity per person! The country recently achieved an installed capacity of 25 GW and has a population of ~25 million.
- The origins of the patented solar power technology that is used nowadays, AKA the Photovoltaic Effect (generating electricity from sunlight), were observed & documented as discovered by a 19-year-old physicist.
- There’s enough potential in shopping malls & big-box stores in the U.S. to generate 84.4 TWh of solar electricity, which would decrease annual global warming pollution of CO2 by over 52 million metric tons!
- International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that by 2026, renewable energy capacity (Solar included) will reach 4800 GW!
- By the way, that is the same amount as the current global capacity of both nuclear & fossil fuels 😮
- Approximately 7000 watts (the average residential solar installation) is powerful enough to reduce the carbon emissions equivalent to 180 mature trees.
- Solar energy should make up MORE THAN HALF of the renewable power capacity additions added globally through 2026.
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