A research team has found that covering the world’s highways with solar roofs could generate 17,578 TWh per year, which is more than 60% of global electricity consumption in 2023.
Their research, titled “Covering highways with solar panels significantly reduces CO2 emissions and traffic losses”, was recently published in the magazine The future of the earth. It investigates the possibilities of installing solar panels above (main) roads.
With more than 3.2 million km of highways worldwide, the researchers calculated the costs and benefits of installing a solar panel network using polycrystalline solar panels with a power of 250 W. The analysis showed that covering highways with solar panels is more than four times could generate the United States’ annual energy production and offset 28.78% of current CO2 emissions, while also reducing global traffic fatalities by 10.8%.
“This really surprised me,” said Ling Yao, a remote sensing scientist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and lead author of the study. “I didn’t realize that highways alone could support the deployment of such large photovoltaic installations, which could generate more than half of global electricity demand and significantly ease the pressure to reduce global CO2 emissions.”
The researchers also identified regions such as Eastern China, Western Europe and the US East Coast as most ideal for deployment, despite challenges associated with installation and maintenance costs. Yao noted the importance of pilot programs to demonstrate the utility of this concept.
The research team included academics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Geosciences, all based in Beijing, and Columbia University in New York.
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