I cant find the answer to this anywhere. What Percent of our total energy use with solar? Why should Solar energy be used more?
I cant find the answer to this anywhere. What Percent of our total energy use with solar? Why should Solar energy be used more?
Hey Independent, Joe is right, it is less than 5%. There are publications that track this data, the latest info is at national atlas dot gov, I have pasted the link to the article below, it was last updated in January of 2011. There is a limitation here however, the numbers they quote are only documented solar, or wind, or hydro sources in the US. I can tell you there are literally thousands of undocumented solar power units in our country. Our home was one of them for 11 years, and only now appears in the mix because we have just recently connected our system to the national grid. Documented solar to electric power accounts for about 1% of our grid electricity, but might be closer to 2 or 3 % in actual practice because of the many solar powered homes, cottages, hunting cabins and so forth that the atlas is not aware of. This also does not account for all the solar heating or solar hot water applications because they do not provide electricity, and are almost impossible to quantify in terms of energy contribution. Again, our home is an example. We preheat our domestic water with 2 solar batch heaters, and the rest is done with propane, and the home uses passive solar heat. These types of designs are becoming more commonplace in new homes today, and it is virtually impossible to calculate how much energy they are providing, or how much grid power they are offsetting by their use. Take care, Rudydoo
It is less than 5%. It should be used more because we want to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.