What If All Houses Were Covered With Solar Panels?

Rise

and

shine!

Get up and seize the day!

You can do anything under the Sun...

when the Sun powers everything.

Your phone,

your home,

and all that's in between.

This is life on the golden grid.

But is it the utopia we thought it would be?

In 2018, the state of California

passed a law requiring all new houses

to be built with solar panels after 2020.

Now you might think this sounds

both extreme and unfair,

considering it will raise home prices

by as much as $12,000.

But it's a lot more sensible than you think.

For one, families will actually

be making money off their new homes

by saving roughly $19,000 over 30 years.

And in the meantime, California will be

generating 74% of its electricity from the Sun.

Sadly, not every place in the world

is like sunny California.

Actually, on the world stage, California's
solar initiative is hardly impressive.

In Australia, for example,
roughly 15% of homes

are already equipped with solar panels.

And in Belgium, it's about 7% of homes.

But in the U.S., only 0.5% of homes
currently have solar panels on them.

Of course, it could be a lot more.

Like, a lot more.

There are just over 8 billion sq.m.
(86.1 billion sq.ft.)

of suitable roof space in the U.S., that,

with solar panels, could produce
1,400 terawatt hours of electricity each year.

That's 40% of the current
energy production in the U.S.

Of course, we'd have to
work out a few things first.

It's one thing to require all homes
to have solar panels,

but to ensure everyone gets reliable power
when they need it is not so easy.

For example, some countries don't get
as much sun as others do,

or they simply have fewer people,

or they have lower energy needs,

making it unfeasible for them to
rely only on solar power.

Think of it this way.

We said earlier that if
every home in California

was equipped with solar panels,

the state could generate about three quarters
of its energy from solar power.

But following the same initiative,

a state like Wyoming, for example,

would only be able to get about
14% of its energy from solar power.

So the success of this kind of program

really depends on managing
people's expectations

based on the energy
needs of a given region,

the amount of sunlight
that a region receives,

and the population density
within its borders.

Places that are unable
to go full-on solar,

would be encouraged to rely on other
renewables suitable for their climates.

The jump in global demand for solar panels

would create millions of
new jobs and businesses.

To build all these new solar panels,

we'd have to up our silicon
and silver extraction,

which would be great news for China,

since they're the world's
leading silicon producer!

And the world's second biggest silver producer.

We would need engineers to come up
with effective ways to prevent power surges.

Also known as "solar spills," they occur
when too much energy is generated

during off-peak hours,
like during the day,

when sunlight is greatest
and demand is lowest.

This overwhelms the grid, and can
trigger blackouts or frequency issues.

The challenge for our engineers, then,
is to come up with ways

to divert and store the
excess energy that is produced,

and then recall it when it's needed.

Solar batteries are a possible solution,
although a very expensive one.

But with any luck, the high demand would
reduce the costs associated with going solar.

In any event, after installation,

people would break even on their
solar technology within 5 to 10 years,

and would then save significantly
on future utility bills...

while also saving the future itself.

So if this is what you see today,

what might you see tomorrow?

Make hay while the Sun shines,

show a friend the future we could have,

and for more bright ideas,
keep watching 'What If.'