Source: Fox News Fast Facts: Jobs in Solar Energy
- Solar energy comprises less than one percent of the world’s total electricity generation
- Solar power accounts for slightly less than 1 percent of the nation’s energy supply
- Renewable energy accounts for some seven percent of the nation’s power
- Solar energy provides electricity and hot water to more than 100,000 homes, businesses and utilities in the United States
- 2008: The U.S. had about 8,800 megawatts (MW) of installed solar capacity
- One megawatt of solar PV capacity can power 150 to 250 homes – 8,800 megawatts can power some 2.2 million homes
- 22 states and the District of Columbia offer rebate programs to promote the installation of solar water heating or solar panels for electricity generation.
- Solar capacity in California grew by 1/3 from 2007 to 2008
- California’s solar capacity represents about two-thirds of the national total
- The energy California gets from the sun represents about one-quarter of 1 percent of its total energy capacity
- New Jersey, Colorado and Nevada follow California for the most solar capacity in the United States
- 10 states, led by Colorado and including Hawaii, Connecticut, Oregon, Arizona, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts more than doubled their rooftop solar capacity in 2008