Fitting solar panels that generate electricity from the sun on site reduce the amount of electricity required from traditional sources thereby reducing national fresh water consumption. This benefits everyone, the homeowner, the utility, and our farmers.
It is estimated that 0.687 gallons of fresh water is used to generate every Kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity.
The average US home uses 11,496 kWh of electricity every year and, therefore, indirectly consumes 7,897 gallons of valuable fresh water. If every household in the US installed solar panels, we would save 7 Billion gallons of water annually! That is enough for over 147 million people to survive on for an entire year; equivalent to almost half the population of the United States.
The traditional generation of electricity uses water in a variety of ways, but mostly for cooling. Supply problems occur when the water is lost as steam instead of being purified and returned to its original source. Most people don't consider the link between energy generation, renewable technologies and fresh water conservation. However, it has a huge direct impact.
Since less than 1% of the water on the earth is accessible freshwater and our consumer demand is growing exponentially, fresh water is one of our most valuable assets and is increasingly in short supply. Attacking the problem of indirect water use like energy generation can help to ensure that we will have safe, fresh, drinkable water well into the future.
