Balcony solar panels can save 30% on a typical household’s electricity bill and, with vertical surface area in cities larger than roof space, the appeal is clear
The albedo decease from urbanization in 2018 relative to 2001 has yielded a 100-year average annual global warming of 0.00014 [0.00008, 0.00021] °C. Without proper mitigation, future urbanization in 2050 relative to 2018 and that in 2100 relative to 2018 under the intermediate emission scenario (SSP2-4.5) would yield a 100-year average warming effect of 0.00107 [0.00057,0.00179] °C and 0.00152 [0.00078,0.00259] °C, respectively, through altering the Earth’s albedo.
The albedo does have an effect, but not much of one. If we were to supplement every household with the ~30% solar power this article suggests, it would be a massive improvement and far outweigh the costs of the albedo.
Especially when you consider looking at the average city from above … the surface is almost 70 to 80% either asphalt or concrete. The average city is literally just a giant solar heat collector. If we didn’t do anything about solar panels … it would be just as efficient if we figured out how to just heat water and use the steam power instead.
That seems like a bad idea unless we figure out a good way to fix the albedo problem that is apparently worse than ever
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31558-z
The albedo does have an effect, but not much of one. If we were to supplement every household with the ~30% solar power this article suggests, it would be a massive improvement and far outweigh the costs of the albedo.
They’re saying to cover the stuff that’s already there, not to build new solar cities
Especially when you consider looking at the average city from above … the surface is almost 70 to 80% either asphalt or concrete. The average city is literally just a giant solar heat collector. If we didn’t do anything about solar panels … it would be just as efficient if we figured out how to just heat water and use the steam power instead.