Europeans opting for Solar Real Estate on Rooftops
Europeans can massively expand low-cost solar generation just by tapping the space over their heads. That’s the conclusion of researchers who used satellite imagery, electricity prices and lending data to assess the untapped energy potential of Europe’s buildings. Rooftop area three times the size Luxembourg is available and could economically supply almost a quarter of the bloc’s power. The overwhelming majority of Europeans support shifting to clean energy to halt climate change, but governments have struggled to find solutions. Germany, the bloc’s economic engine, expects to miss pledges it made to cut emissions despite record investments in solar and wind power. Sluggish investment in upgrading power grids has created bottlenecks between regions that have deployed renewables and those that still rely on polluting fossil-fuel plants that run all the time. The new research suggests that looking more closely at rooftop solar resources could help policy makers to plan more effectively, especially as an expected wave of electric vehicles enters the market and raises power demand.
Tags : INTERNATIONAL