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Exploring the potential of non-residential solar to tackle energy injustice

Nature Energy (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Despite the observed disparities in US residential solar deployment, there is limited insight into whether these disparities exist for the non-residential sector. Here we use DeepSolar, a comprehensive photovoltaic database constructed with satellite imagery, to assess solar deployment equity based on the US Justice40’s disadvantaged community measure. We find that disadvantaged communities have less non-residential solar (−38%), but this disparity is notably higher for residential solar (−67%). Across-state variations are consistent for residential solar (−81% to −49%) yet highly heterogeneous for non-residential solar (−66% to +34%). Using scenarios to explore the potential for microgrids powered by solar on building rooftops larger than 1,000 square metres, we estimate that 63% of disadvantaged communities could meet at least 20% of annual residential electricity demand. Our research argues for a new focus on non-residential solar as a way to strengthen resilience and accelerate local deployment of clean energy resources to promote energy justice.

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Fig. 1: Disparities in non-residential and residential solar deployment.
Fig. 2: State-level variation of the solar equity gap.
Fig. 3: Temporal trends in solar deployment and the solar equity gap from 2006 to 2016 and 2022.
Fig. 4: Scenarios assessing the non-residential solar potential in DACs.

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Data availability

The complete data analysed in the current study are not publicly available due to ethical restrictions and the privacy of individual homeowners. However, de-identified versions of the data are made available through the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/a7n3j/?view_only=d91d76a4946e45c6bcf3237a45b32d15 (ref. 47).

Code availability

The code that is used for data processing, model implementation and result visualization is made available through the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/a7n3j/?view_only=d91d76a4946e45c6bcf3237a45b32d15 (ref. 47).

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank their colleagues in the Stanford Sustainable Systems Lab (S3L) and Stanford Magic Lab for their feedback and support. The authors further thank Descartes Labs for providing access to their satellite imagery. This work was funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2020 Funding Program (award number DE-EE0009359) to R.R. and A.M.; by the National Science Foundation through a CAREER award (#1554178) to R.R.; and by a Stanford Precourt Pioneering Project award to R.R. and A.M. The views and opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily state or reflect those of the funding sources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Moritz Wussow, Chad Zanocco, Rajanie Prabha, June Flora & Ram Rajagopal

  2. Information Systems Research, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

    Moritz Wussow & Dirk Neumann

  3. Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Zhecheng Wang & Ram Rajagopal

  4. Doerr School of Sustainability, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Arun Majumdar

  5. Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Arun Majumdar

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  1. Moritz Wussow
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Contributions

M.W., C.Z., J.F., D.N., A.M. and R.R. conceptualized and designed the research; M.W. performed the research and analysed the data; R.P. and Z.W. constructed the main dataset; M.W. and C.Z. wrote the initial paper draft. M.W., C.Z., Z.W., R.P., J.F., D.N., A.M. and R.R. edited and revised the paper. A.M. and R.R. provided funding acquisition support for the research.

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Correspondence to Moritz Wussow, Arun Majumdar or Ram Rajagopal.

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Wussow, M., Zanocco, C., Wang, Z. et al. Exploring the potential of non-residential solar to tackle energy injustice. Nat Energy (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01485-y

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