The National Renewable Energy Laboratory says claims rooftop solar by itself could provide 40 percent of the U.S. electricity needs. Which is cool, but what’s really interesting is that, as the above map shows, New England does really well in terms of how much of its electricity needs could be met by rooftop solar. Massachusetts and the three Northern New England states are all among the top seven states in terms of potential percentage of electricity that rooftop solar could provide.
That’s not because of our abundant sunshine – it’s because we have “significantly below-average household consumption, suggesting the role an energy-efficient residential sector could play in achieving a high penetration of energy from rooftop PV. The worst performing state – Wyoming – has the highest average households electricity consumption, at more than 30kWh a day.”
I spotted this at the RenewEconomy site (which is based in Australia, of all places), thanks to a mention by Sam Evans-Brown of NHPR.
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