How Much Of The World Uses Solare Panels

The use of solar panels to obtain electricity and heat is growing but it is still extremely small when compared to other types of energy.

How much of the world uses solare panels.

The exact number changes depending on the specifications of the chosen panel model as well as the sunshine available at the project site. Italy uses 16 361 mw china uses 8 300 mw usa 7 777 mw japan 6 914 mw spain 5 166 mw france 4 003 mw belgium and australia uses 2 650 mw each czech republic uses 2 072 mw. The more meaningful number is what percentage of the electricity produce comes from solar energy. Here is a table with the top 10 counties listed.

Before purchasing a solar energy system for your home an important step is finding out how many solar panels you need. It is estimated that only 1 percent of the united states electricity and power come from solar panels and solar energy which is hardly enough to make a difference in the amount of fossil fuels used. Energy output is a function of power installed capacity multiplied by the time of generation. Only 18 of that total world energy was in the form of electricity.

While more capacity was installed in 2017 the global growth rate slowed last year down from 49 percent in 2016 according to energy news site cleantechnica. In 2016 the total world energy came from 80 fossil fuels 10 biofuels 5 nuclear and 5 renewable hydro wind solar geothermal. The new capacity brings the total operating solar power in the world to 405 gw 89 percent of which was installed in the last seven years according to iflscience. At over 20 gigawatts of installed solar electric capacity we now have enough solar in the u s.

In 2008 the world used about 474 exajoules or 132 000 terawatt hours worth of energy from all sources. To power 4 6 million homes reducing harmful carbon emissions by more than 25 million metric tons a. The previous section looked at the energy output from solar across the world. The global solar market grew 29 3 percent last year with nations installing 98 9 gigawatts of new capacity according to data from the industry group solarpower europe.

The potential for global solar energy has been estimated to be about 3 times that at 1600 exajoules 444 000 terawatt hours. This interactive chart shows installed solar capacity across the world. A home that consumes 1 000 kwh per month will normally need between 20 and 30 solar panels. The top installers of 2016 through 2019 were china the united states and india.

As of the beginning of 2016 the total world pv capacity was 303 gwh or about 1 8. World wide the number is still pretty low. By the end of 2016 cumulative photovoltaic capacity increased by more than 75 gigawatt gw and reached at least 303 gw sufficient to supply approximately 1 8 percent of the world s total electricity consumption.