What would a city that used only solar energy look like?

Who Asked: Jacob
NaNo-novel: Space Monkey’s Revenge

Answer: You could actually see what it would look like for yourself. All you would have to do is take a trip to the Netherlands. There, you can find a theme park called the Madurodam. It is a 1:25 scale model of a typical Dutch city. And, in 2002, it went solar. Overall, it still looks like a normal city.

However, there are several ways of handling energy concerns using solar power. One possibility would be to put enough solar panels on the roof of each house to attend to that household’s energy needs. According to Home Energy, it takes three to ten kilowatts of “peak power” to run the average house. This means an array of roughly 16 -60 panels. It’s going to cover at least a third of the roof. People flying over such a city would probably find the reflection blinding. However, at night, it would probably be one of the lowest generators of light pollution, as everyone would want to conserve their batteries for a cloudy day.

Another possibility would be to have a solar power plant outside the city. Then, the city itself would look like any other, complete with lines to route the power to homes.

Either way, the ideal location for such a city would be in a desert area, where there is plenty of sun. If you had too many cloudy days in a row, parts of the city would probably have to shut down. Homes might have power drained off to run hospitals and other essential services. The possibilities for conflict are endless!

It sounds like your novel is set in the future, and I hope it’s a bright one!

Thanks for playing Stump the Librarian!

Amber

Web Resources