Get the latest tech news
Understanding Solar Energy
The biggest energy story of the last fifteen years is the rise of solar photovoltaics, also known as solar PV or simply solar panels.
That means that the main questions around solar PV are about its potential: how long can its rapid growth rate continue, and how large a fraction of our energy can it effectively supply? There are a variety of ways that this could be done — using electricity from our PV panels to spin a flywheel, or pump water uphill, or synthesize methane to later burn — but in practice today most new energy storage is in the form of large lithium-ion batteries. For our simulated household, meeting 100% electricity demand requires 52 kilowatts (about 250 square meters) worth of panels, roughly five times our peak yearly consumption, and enough storage to power our house for almost four days straight during the summer.
Or read this on Hacker News