How much area would be required to build solar farms to generate all of our needed energy? Without taking into consideration any improvement in technology, according to the renewable energy advocacy group Land Art Generator, the surface area required is 496,805 square kilometres.38 That may sound like a lot of land, but the land leased to the oil and gas industry in the United States alone covers 104,177 square kilometres.39 If you used that land for solar power, you could provide more than one-fifth of the world’s entire energy needs.
