The potential of photovoltaic carports to cover the energy demand of road passenger transport

Transport accounts for 31% of Swiss green house gas emissions due to the high degree of oil dependence in transport energy supply. The emissions of transport could be reduced significantly if all the vehicles that ran on fossil fuels would be replaced by electric vehicles powered by photovoltaic solar energy. Compared with other sources of renewable transport energy, photovoltaic generation of electricity has two advantages: it requires little space and can also be applied to built‐up areas or transport infrastructure. In this paper, we will examine the potential of parking lots for the photovoltaic generation of solar electricity. The paper is based on simulations that were carried out for 48 parking lots in Frauenfeld, a typical Swiss medium‐sized city of 22 665 inhabitants. Covered with solar carports, these parking lots alone would cover 15-40% of the energy demand by the city's road passenger transport. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.