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landodk t1_ja1oai2 wrote

Reply to comment by smsutton in How Much Land Would It Require To Get Most Of Our Electricity From Wind & Solar? by BlitzOrion

Probably not even all rooftops. Just focusing on the large flat commercial rooftops would be huge, and lower installation/maintenance costs

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littleday t1_ja1yiyd wrote

You’d need more than that, Western Australia 45% of all domestic rooftops have solar, we cover most of Our needs from solar, but it’s the storage that’s the issue for night time. It can be done, but battery tech needs to get cheaper and it is. In Australia you can buy a 6.6kW system with a battery for 12k USD and it would cover most house holds needs.

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aquarain t1_ja39ono wrote

The iron flow batteries are on the way. Much longer duration, higher cycles and way lower cost. Consumes some of the energy though.

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mikasjoman t1_ja3qn8s wrote

I'll trust it when I see it at the store. So much tech has been on its way for a decade, "just around the corner" it's ridiculous to even mention them by now.

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bejamamo t1_ja59n8e wrote

But solid state battery are going to REVOLUTIONIZE the way we think about battery storage /s

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pinkfootthegoose t1_ja3v5bq wrote

iron flow are only good for utility scale storage. moving parts and all that need maintenance.

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sunshine-thewerewolf t1_ja25h3x wrote

I have 2 rooftops that would be prime for solar. Most my neighbors also have prime spots. Could easily be feeding the grid and have our own backups. Seems like an easy win

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