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Researchers Use AI To Map Every Solar Panel In the US (cnet.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the eyes-in-the-sky dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: There are about 1.47 million individual solar panel installations in the US. That number comes courtesy of an artificial intelligence system developed by researchers at Stanford University. The system is outlined in a study released Wednesday that describes how the AI setup analyzed satellite photos to figure out how widespread solar panel usage is. The report, called "DeepSolar: A Machine Learning Framework to Efficiently Construct a Solar Deployment Database in the United States" and published in the journal Joule, showed there are more solar panels out there than previously thought. The group plans to update the database annually and add other countries and regions in the future, the study says.

30 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. Let me guess... by raftpeople · · Score: 1

    42?

  2. new industry needed by Hallux-F-Sinister · · Score: 2

    We might need someone to start making solar panels that donâ(TM)t t look solar panels so they won't come around and tax you for having power. Also would probably look nicer.

    --
    Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
    1. Re:new industry needed by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

      Yeah, how dare they be concerned for their workers safety when they have to go out and fix something and your house is still feeding power back into what they are working on.

      That's not an issue if your inverter isn't grid-tied.

      --
      Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
    2. Re:new industry needed by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Actually we have that already.
      Panels that are like paint and can be put on the wall or panels integrated into the windows which provide shade and energy.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    3. Re:new industry needed by Hallux-F-Sinister · · Score: 1

      Yeah, how dare they be concerned for their workers safety when they have to go out and fix something and your house is still feeding power back into what they are working on. How DARE they sir. You should be able to run your meth lab via solar with no government input.

      I sure wish people had the guts or time to log in and reply, so I could write a meaningful response and have an actual conversation with people.

      Ordinarilly I don't waste time responding to ACs, but... your "worker safety" concerns are ludicrous. When "they" have to go out and "fix something" you're perhaps assuming they are so stupid they don't check to make sure the parts they're working on are isolated electrically. You have, I suspect, an overly simplistic view of how power systems work. You saw a diagram showing a power station, some wires, and some houses, perhaps with some smiling waving people standing in front of them, indicating they're happy because power is flowing. In reality, the system is a vast sprawling network of interconnected and interoperating power systems, with all manner of complicated switchgear, etc., so when "they" have to come out and "fix something," they don't just ASSume that because the link between ONE power plant and SOME homes or businesses nearby is down, due to, say, a blown transformer they're there to work on, that there's no voltage present ANYWHERE. They isolate the parts they're working on completely because doing otherwise would be stupid and suicidal, and it doesn't matter if there's some solar panels nearby trying to feed into the "system".

      Also, as an unrelated matter, comes the day when I have a house with solar panels or other electric generation equipment belonging to and contorlled by me, it's NOT going to be feeding into anything besides stuff I own and control... I want NOTHING to do with the power company or their bullshit grid; if I were not living somewhere where I'm not in a position to do this, I wouldn't be using their power anyway. All part of the price that must be paid.

      --
      Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
    4. Re:new industry needed by Hallux-F-Sinister · · Score: 1

      Kewl. Will have to look into that ifanwen I have occasion to put up spanels.

      --
      Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
  3. That's all?? by haruchai · · Score: 2

    Australia surpassed 1.5 million cumulative installs in 2016, Germany was at 1.7 million in 2017

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    1. Re:That's all?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This is the US of A we are talking about. You know, a place so special that things which worked around the rest of the world would become impossible here.

      For example, public transportation, nationalised health care, fast broadband internet with competition among ISPs, mobile phones that didn’t lock you to a provider, etc.

      Just having as many solar panels as another country with 1/10 of the population is already a huge achievement! Just like pollution, Americans think it is stupid to count per capita!

    2. Re:That's all?? by DethLok · · Score: 1

      Nothing like that happened in the western third of the country, where electricity supply is still govt owned.

      Maybe you easterners shouldn't have privatised an essential service?

    3. Re:That's all?? by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      You aren't American. Plus it is stupid to count per capita. The US is the #2 manufacturing nation in the world. That is why the per capita numbers are so high.

    4. Re:That's all?? by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Germany has been increasing their CO2 output year over year and is spinning up coal plants. Nice "targets" but the US has more installed solar and wind and renewables than almost any country in the world.

    5. Re:That's all?? by DamonHD · · Score: 1

      Quite sure that it's nothing to do with larger houses (more floorspace to heat and cool and light per person) and larger less efficient personal vehicles with longer distances to travel due to less clustered population?

      Rgds

      Damon

      --
      http://m.earth.org.uk/
    6. Re:That's all?? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      I don't live in Australia.

      But I do work there at times.

    7. Re:That's all?? by haruchai · · Score: 2

      Germany has been increasing their CO2 output year over year and is spinning up coal plants. Nice "targets" but the US has more installed solar and wind and renewables than almost any country in the world.

      Per capita, per tonne of CO2 emitted and considering the impressive resources of both solar and wind, what the USA has done so far is not that impressive.
      China leads the world in solar heating for hot water with 70% of installed systems of the global total.
      America is now in 2nd place but with only 4.5% but Germany & Turkey were at that level nearly 10 years ago.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    8. Re:That's all?? by haruchai · · Score: 1

      it is stupid to count per capita. The US is the #2 manufacturing nation in the world. That is why the per capita numbers are so high.

      Hogwash.
      Japan is no slouch when it comes to manufacturing and their CO2 emissions spiked after they shut down their nukes.
      Yet it's per capita numbers, while high, are still well below America's.
      Find other excuses.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  4. Th-th-th-that's all folks! by OrangeTide · · Score: 2

    You don't need solar panels when you have subsidized oil, coal, and nuclear power. Tax the middle class to support a welfare state for industrialists and energy moguls.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  5. Re: Use this technology to ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    A day is 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.0916 seconds. The days do not get long or short.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  6. If you can count it ... by PPH · · Score: 1

    ... you can tax it.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  7. Eat the Rich ! by swell · · Score: 2

    According to the upcoming 2019 USA edition of Homeless Workers' CoOp Manifesto, 'Eat the Rich' chapter; this is how you find them. Maps of residential solar panels, swimming pools, private tennis courts and inaccessible ocean beaches. Members are encouraged to map their own locale via drones for inclusion in future editions. Don't forget that they are nicely fattened during the holiday season!

    --
    ...omphaloskepsis often...
  8. Re:Why? Just why? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    A city might be interested to find out who has a permit for that "work" done?
    Was the permit for a size of solar generation but a lot more was added later? Its full gov inspection time.
    An energy company might like to shape state and city "energy" production laws?
    To find out how much solar exists on and off the grid and how much energy could be pushed back into "their" grid should laws get changed? Different federal US law enfacement experts might like to know who is buying and placing so much "hidden" energy production "off grid" for what "reason" :)
    Who has a "bunker" with a well hidden solar system set up ... and is totally lacking all kinds of gov permits?
    Who is living in a tent city with a solar panel set up? A RV "parked" with solar on the RV roof?
    Its energy tax time and the gov is counting everyone to tax in new ways.
    A city and state want people who can "afford" solar to pay more tax?

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  9. If you repeat a lie enough times by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 1

    Folks eventually start to believe it.

    The media throws around the term " AI " like its commonplace in society.

    If and when a true AI is ever created, it will be truly terrifying in comparison to what passes as AI today.
    I say terrifying because we, as a species, are used to being top of the food chain here.

    Once we lose that distinction, quite a few folks aren't going to deal with that realization well.

    1. Re:If you repeat a lie enough times by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      They mean "image recognition" which means they can detect dark squares on a satellite photo that could be solar panels. Apparently image recognition is AI in 2018.

  10. How sure are you, and what do they mean by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    I was wondering how many false positives they might get from this - a local restaurant has decorative steel panels outside that look kind of like solar panels (including the angle) but are not...

    Also, what do they really mean by "Solar Panel". My mom technically has a solar panel on her roof - but it's only for heating water, it does not provide power. I know at least a few other people with solar water heating panels as well, are they included in the tally yet being thought of as providing power?

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:How sure are you, and what do they mean by AHuxley · · Score: 2

      The way a solar panel "looks" when detected to just glass to cover the system used for heating water.
      Distinctive type of materials should be detectable and not get counted.
      Repeating grids and rows can be telling too. When not just one or two big panels.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  11. Re:USA, What % of your power is solar? case closed by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    US is 2.0% of total consumption and Germany is 7.%. The US is a much bigger manufacturer than Germany, that is why CO2 "per person" is higher. It has nothing to do with solar.

  12. Re: Use this technology to ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    Your characterization of me as a fuckwit is offensive.

    I'm an insensitive clod.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  13. Re:I don't understand... by desdinova+216 · · Score: 1

    BINGO!

  14. Re:Use this technology to ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    I was being sour caustic because of how this played into Trump's recent call to pull out of Syria, a move he criticized Obama for doing.

    I'm surprised it wasn't down modded to -1 right away with no responses.

    We sour, we caust, we move on.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  15. Re:Clueless yank is clueless, as expected. by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

    It was in the news worldwide, man.

  16. Re:USA, What % of your power is solar? case closed by haruchai · · Score: 1

    US is 2.0% of total consumption and Germany is 7.%.

    What are you talking about?

    The US is a much bigger manufacturer than Germany, that is why CO2 "per person" is higher. It has nothing to do with solar.

    Germany manufactures 73 cars per 1000 people; USA manages only 38.

    America's production of 818000 metric tons is 1.5x that of Germany but Canada's production is 3.5x that of America's and their per-capita CO2 is about the same despite also producing oil from tar sands.
    It's not greater manufacturing that's the culprit, it's the vehicles driven, the relatively inefficient homes and being the 3rd largest producer of GHG from agriculture.

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body