EVERY ROOF A NODE:

A new report from Environment America finds that big box stores could be a huge resource for solar power, potentially providing enough power for 8 million homes. And once you think about the math, this is a little bit of a no-brainer.

The U.S. has a lot of big box stores. There are more than 100,000 superstores across the country, which means about 7.2 billion square feet (670 million square meters) of rooftop space. Using data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the report estimates that about two-thirds of that underutilized area could be used for solar panels. Fully equipping that space could generate 84.4 terawatt-hours of energy per year, which would save more than 52 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.

There's even room for improvement: Environment America last ran a similar analysis in 2016, and this year's figures for possible electricity generation are about 9% higher than they were seven years ago--thanks in large part to improvements in solar technology, rather than more big stores being built.

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