Elon Musk says solar plus batteries could power humanity’s energy needs
“Elon Musk said solar power, paired with large-scale batteries, could eventually meet global energy needs.”
Key points
- Elon Musk said solar power, paired with large-scale batteries, could eventually meet global energy needs.
- He argued that continued advances and deployment could address climate and growing electricity demand, including from AI.
Elon Musk has argued that solar energy could ultimately supply humanity’s total energy demand, describing a solar-led future as increasingly inevitable as technology improves.
Citing rapid progress in solar deployment and storage, Musk said a relatively compact area of solar panels—paired with battery systems—could cover major electricity needs. He suggested that around 100 square miles of panels in places such as Texas or New Mexico, combined with storage, could meet the United States’ average electricity demand.
Musk linked the idea to broader themes of long-term energy scaling, referencing the Kardashev scale as a way to think about civilisation-level energy use. He also framed expanded solar and battery capacity as a response to climate pressures and rising electricity demand from advanced computing and artificial intelligence.
He acknowledged that critics worry about grid constraints and storage limits but pointed to strong recent adoption as evidence that scaling could continue.
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