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Half of Americans can’t install solar panels. Community solar is how they can plug into the sun. (wapo.st)

submitted 11 months ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to c/energy@slrpnk.net

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Scores of new small solar farms that sell clean, local electricity directly to customers are popping up. The setup, dubbed “community solar,” is designed to bring solar power to people who don’t own their own homes or can’t install panels — often at prices below retail electricity rates.

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[–] LilNaib@slrpnk.net 1 points 11 months ago

I agree but just want to add that at least some people in apartments and condos can still produce and use solar-generated electricity. Here's a cool example:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/01/i-disconnected-from-the-electric-grid-for-8-months-in-manhattan/

Although I have rooftop solar producing around 200% of our usage annually, I was inspired by this story and have been increasingly using our offgrid LFP (LiFePO4 / lithium iron phosphate) backup batteries with solar panels to power certain things.

I think people in apartments would need rooftop access (ideally), equator-facing windows or a balcony, at the very least, for this to make ecological sense as there's a carbon cost to manufacturing batteries and solar panels. But it's doable and some people are doing it!

Here's another:

https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/about/the-solar-website/