Scientists have calculated how many solar panels will be required in order to provide energy to the whole world

Green energy is conquering the world more and more, and solar panels are one of the most promising sources of green electricity.

Therefore, scientists decided to calculate how many solar panels would be required to fully cover the need for electricity around the world. As it turned out, for this it would be quite enough to use all existing roofs on buildings.

How many solar panels do you need

The study was conducted in Ireland and led by experts from University College Cork and the Columbia University Center for Global Energy Policy (CU-CGEP).

In the course of the study, scientists mapped 130 million kilometers of square earth's surface and identified about 200,000 total roof areas of both residential and commercial buildings.

After that, a specially designed artificial intelligence algorithm was applied to evaluate various variables that could affect the potential of solar energy in the future.

So scientists found out that if you occupy all the available areas, then it is possible to produce 27 petawatt * hours of electricity (27 quadrillion watt * hours) per year. This is, for a minute, more than all of humanity consumed at the end of 2018.

It was also found that Asia, North America and Europe have the greatest potential. So, to cover all 200,000 square kilometers of solar panels with solar panels, you need to produce no less than 37,000,000 solar panels.

Of course, solar panels are now being produced in huge quantities, but the scale is far from being required to create 200,000 kilometers of solar panels. And this, for a minute, just to cover consumption for 2018.

But energy consumption is growing at a rapid pace every year and primarily due to the creation of more and more smart devices, and the increasing use of electric vehicles in all over the world.

Of course, in the modern world, in addition to solar panels, wind generators, tidal stations, hydroelectric stations, etc. are also used. But all the same, it will be impossible to complete the transition to green energy sources without additional colossal cash infusions.

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