Elon Musk: Solar Power Plus Batteries Is All We Need

Here's Elon Musk in 2015 explaining why solar power combined with batteries is all we need.

“We have this handy fusion reactor in the sky, called the sun. You don't have to do anything. It just works. Shows up every day and produces ridiculous amounts of power.

A lot of people aren't clear on how much surface area is needed to generate enough power to completely get the United States off of fossil fuels. Most people have no idea. They think that it must be some huge amount of area.

Maybe you need these satellites in space and space solar power. If anyone should be in favor of space solar power, it should be me. But this is completely unnecessary because, actually, very little land is needed to get rid of all fossil fuel electricity generation in the United States.

That blue square there is the land area that's needed to transition the United States to a zero-carbon electricity situation. It's really not much. And most of that area is going to be on rooftops, so you won't need to disturb land, you won't need to find new areas.

It's mostly just going to be on the roofs of existing homes and buildings. So, I really think that image is an important one to bear in mind when people are thinking about solar power.

Like, how much will it take, Is it going to take some enormous amount? No, it's just that blue square.

Now, the obvious problem with solar power is that the sun does not shine at night – I think most people are aware of this. So, this problem needs to be solved. We need to store the energy that is generated during the day so that you can use it at night.

And also, even during the day, the energy generation varies. There's a lot more energy generated in the middle of the day than at dawn or dusk. So, it's very important to smooth out that energy generation and retain enough so that you can use it at night.

Now, what you may not have noticed in that earlier slide where I showed the blue square was that there was one red pixel. In the blue square was a red pixel. That is the size of the batteries needed to transition all the United States to being solar with batteries. It is a very tiny amount, one pixel.

Just remember that one pixel is the size of the batteries needed for the United States to have no fossil fuel-generated electricity. This is no room at all.”

Tesla energy Presentation, April 30, 2015