Canada Global (Web News) A new study shows that the energy demand of more than 30 million homes in Europe could be met by rooftop solar panels.
Researchers at Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology found that more than 50 percent of Europe’s 41 million detached homes could be self-sufficient using solar panels and batteries by 2020, with that rate expected to reach 75 percent by 2050. Innovations in solar technology are likely to make the technology more affordable for homes and make electricity grid-free in the coming decades.
According to the researchers, it would make more sense to maintain access to homes to power other consumers in the form of excess energy production, rather than getting rid of grid electricity entirely. The results suggest that going off-grid will not be an economically viable option by 2050. More households dependent on the grid will not be more efficient.