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What If The United States Was Powered Entirely By Solar Energy?
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Mar 31, 2025
Solar power has seen a resurgence over the last 10 years. As the technology has become cheaper and more efficient at generating electricity, it finally become economical to install on personal homes. Today, solar power comprises just 3% of the United State's total electricity, but it has the potential to generate so much more. So what would it take to power the United States entirely with solar power?
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0:00
Solar energy has become one of the most promising energy technologies in recent years
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As more Americans attach solar panels to their homes, they become less reliant on oil, gas, and coal for their energy needs
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Today, solar energy comprises just 3% of the entire United States energy production
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But what if the U.S. was powered entirely by solar energy today? Hello, and welcome to What If Geography
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where we try and answer the great geographic what-if questions of the world. I'm your host, Jeff Gibson, and today we're going to talk about solar energy
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While solar power represents a minuscule amount of the U.S.'s energy today, the technology has grown a huge amount in recent years
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And there's a reason for that. Solar energy might seem like a relatively new source of power
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but the technology behind it actually dates back to the mid-1800s. Early development of solar power began in the 1860s and was driven by an expectation that coal would soon become scarce
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Obviously, the expected shortage of coal turned out to be anything but, and instead of further investing in the fledgling technology
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governments and corporations turned to coal and petroleum as both became much more widely available
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For about the next 100 years, solar power existed as a nascent technology
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with very little progress in turning it into a viable power source. By the 1970s, solar power was being used to power satellites
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but the cost of solar power was still considered to be unrealistic for conventional applications
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such as powering things here on Earth. In fact, in 1974, it was estimated that only six private homes in all of North America
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were entirely heated or cooled by functional solar power systems. But the technology got a bit of a shot in the arm thanks to the 1973 oil embargo
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followed by the 1979 energy crisis. Again, with an expected scarcity in fossil fuels looming
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there was renewed interest from countries to try and figure out how to monetize and sell
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solar energy. So much so that Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States, installed 32 solar panels
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on the White House roof in order to promote the technology. President Carter also set a goal that by the year 2000 the US would produce fully 20 of its energy using solar energy Obviously that never happened In fact Ronald Reagan the president that immediately succeeded Jimmy Carter removed the solar panels and slashed
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almost all funding and research for renewable energy. This, of course, came on the heels of
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the oil markets rebounding. So once again, solar power sunk into obscurity as a technology full
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of promise, but with no development. If you're noticing a trend here, you're not alone. Solar
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power has historically risen and fallen along with the prospects of petroleum and the fossil
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fuel industry. As gas gets more expensive, interest in solar power as a viable technology
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increases. Once gas gets cheaper, solar energy research investment and procurement recedes
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and so on and so on. Solar power as a viable source of energy has had a lot of ups and downs
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throughout history. But in recent years, that's starting to change. The technology itself has
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grown more mature and more efficient, and with that comes more use overall. But before we get
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into the current and future state of solar energy in the United States. If you're enjoying this
3:08
video, now would be a great time to subscribe. More fun geography videos are just one click away
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Today, the world is currently experiencing a resurgence in solar energy. Countries around
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the world are realizing that the sun can power everything from basic infrastructure such as
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streetlights to homes, businesses, and even hospitals. That said, despite some phenomenal
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growth over the past decade, solar power still remains a tiny fraction of the world's overall
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energy production. As of 2019, solar power made up just 1,800 terawatt hours of the world's energy
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Not nothing, but still very little compared to coal at 44,000 terawatt hours, oil at 54,000
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terawatt hours, and natural gas at 38,000 terawatt hours. In the United States specifically
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solar energy comprises just 331 terawatt hours of power. That's a minuscule amount
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But just 10 years ago, the United States only generated 8 terawatt hours
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of its power using solar energy. That's a 4,000% increase. If the United States could maintain
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a fraction of that momentum, solar power could become a significant source of energy
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for the country over the coming decade. And that's not impossible either
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Since 2014, the average cost of solar panels has dropped nearly 70 This has enabled new uses for solar energy particularly in the installation and use of solar energy to power personal homes Prior to about 2010 it was not really economically viable
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for a homeowner to install solar energy on their roof and expect enough of a difference in their power bill
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to offset the cost of the solar panels and installation. Today, the following states lead the country
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in terms of solar energy production. California, North Carolina, Arizona, Nevada, Texas
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New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida, Utah, and Georgia. And while some states might seem more naturally predisposed to solar energy
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the reality is that most of the contiguous United States is actually far enough south
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to generate enough electricity for it to be financially worthwhile. Even the typically rainy and dreary Pacific Northwest is seeing an increase in solar energy generation
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While the United States is currently experiencing a solar power renaissance, it's still a long way from being able to power the entire country
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Solar currently provides just under 3% of the total power generation for the United States
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To put that in perspective, amongst the other renewables and clean energy production, solar energy still ranks near the bottom
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Wind energy generates approximately 9.2%, and hydropower generates approximately 6.3% of the country's total energy
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Nuclear energy, while not necessarily renewable, also generates almost no emissions and currently generates 19% of the nation's electricity
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But solar's abundance and potential throughout the United States is staggering. Installing solar panels on just 22,000 square miles of the nation's total land area
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smaller than the size of West Virginia, could supply enough electricity to power the entire United States
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West Virginia, it should be pointed out, can fit entirely within the almost uninhabited dry desert regions of central Nevada
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Of course, the primary advantage solar has over other renewable energy competitors
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is that it doesn't actually require its own land in order to be effective. Most new solar panel installation today is not at a dedicated solar power plant
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but rather on the roofs of homes and businesses. It's projected that more than 1 in 7 homes in the US will have a rooftop solar panel system by 2030
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That's 20 million homes. Converting the entire country to solar power would have huge benefits to the current environment By switching entirely to solar energy the United States would save about 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide
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from entering the atmosphere every single year. That's nearly a quarter of the total carbon emissions emitted by the country
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And this would go a long ways towards ensuring that the planet does not hit the dreaded 1.5 degrees Celsius increase in temperature
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But solar energy is not without some negative environmental effects. Solar energy technologies require the use of materials
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such as metals and glass, that are energy-intensive to make. Solar power also requires the use of more batteries
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in order to store energy generated during the day for use at night
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Batteries are also very energy-intensive to make, and require specific materials that require extensive mining operations
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All of this creates more carbon for the atmosphere. Additionally, for actual solar power plants
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as opposed to just solar panels on rooftops, solar takes up a lot of land
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And while much of this land could be placed in relatively arid but sunny environments
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such as the central Nevada desert, the operations and maintenance of solar panels require quite a bit of water
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Each panel needs to be relatively clean in order to maximize electricity production
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Panels located in a desert, as you can imagine, can get quite dirty
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and therefore require more water in an already dry and arid climate to keep active
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You can see where the problem lies. But while not an absolutely perfect source of electricity
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a U.S. run entirely on solar power would be an overwhelming net positive
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for the country and planet in terms of climate change. And that's perhaps more important than anything else right now
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Solar power has had a long history of starts and stops. Had more countries embraced the technology sooner
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who knows where we would be today with respects to climate change. Thankfully, solar energy is starting to become a major player
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And not only in the United States. India, China, Europe, parts of Africa, Chile, are all starting to embrace the technology
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as a major source of power generation. And that could make a literal world of difference for our futures
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I hope you enjoyed learning about solar power in the United States. If you did, please subscribe to my channel
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And if you want to watch more of my videos, you can do so here. Thanks for watching. See you next time
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