Australians love rooftop solar power. About 4 million homes have solar panels on their roofs, and we generate more solar energy per person than any other country.

But affordability pressures on homeowners are holding them back from installing rooftop solar on millions of homes. Without this, Australia could struggle to meet its goal of generating more than 80% of electricity from renewables by 2030.

We propose a bold new “use it or lend it” solar program, under which the owners of detached and semi-detached homes would have the option of allowing the government to install and operate solar panels on their rooftops.

This could be an effective alternative to traditional energy rebates to accelerate the energy transition. And the electricity generated from these systems could be allocated to low-income households and renters, who are currently unable to access solar power.

Boosting solar

Slightly more than half of owner-occupied houses in Australia have solar panels.

Our new research looked at the factors that influenced household solar panel uptake in the Sydney metropolitan area from 2013 to 2024.

We found that as the cost of panels and batteries dropped over time and electricity prices soared, more homeowners decided to install solar. In contrast, the feed-in tariffs—the payment from electricity retailers for surplus electricity you put back into the grid—seem to have little impact on solar adoption.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, we found that high house prices relative to household incomes resulted in reduced solar adoption, showing housing affordability is a barrier for solar uptake. Despite the long-term savings offered by solar, homeowners battling housing affordability simply didn’t have as much disposable income to spend on solar panels.

At present, a typical 6.6 kilowatt system costs about $8,500, but the owner only pays about $6,200 because of the Commonwealth Small-Scale Renewable Energy Scheme rebate. These rebates are being phased out by 2030.

Untapped potential

Australia has a legislated greenhouse emissions target of 43% below 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero by 2050. Last month, it announced a more ambitious interim target of 62%–70% below 2005 levels by 2035.

To meet this goal, we will need to generate more than 80% of Australia’s electricity from renewables by 2030. We are not yet on track.

To overcome the shortfall on solar adoption, bold policies are needed to make rooftop solar accessible to all households, not just those who can already afford it.

What has been proposed so far? The Climate Council advocates for the mandatory inclusion of solar on new and substantially renovated houses, as well as suitable new apartment buildings. The Grattan Institute says state and territory governments should provide certainty with a long-term date for the end of gas.

But these approaches take time. We propose a third and complementary “use it or lend it” option. Under this scheme, owners of detached and semi-detached houses that have not installed solar could “lend” their rooftop space to the government for publicly owned solar panels.

How ‘use it or lend it’ would work

Owners who chose this option would retain full ownership of their property while receiving compensation, such as annual lease payments, for allowing public use of their rooftop space.

This arrangement would give property owners the clear, risk-free benefit of financial compensation without the cost of installation or responsibility for maintenance of the panels themselves. We expect the program would appeal to low-income homeowners who cannot afford solar panels, as well as rental property owners who may be reluctant or unable to invest in solar.

For the government, the electricity from these systems could be allocated to low-income households and renters, two groups that face the greatest barriers to direct solar participation. This could be done through [virtual energy networks], a digital platform that allows solar households to sell excess electricity to non-solar households. The “use it or lend it” policy could be an effective tool to address equity concerns in solar uptake.

Property owners could choose to buy back the rooftop solar panel system installed by the government at any time. If existing owners initially opt out but later wish to opt back in, or if new property owners decide to participate, the purchase price would be determined based on the “cost neutrality” principle, meaning the government does not profit.

To ensure feasibility and fairness, the program would have to include safeguards covering roof integrity and owner indemnity against potential damage or injury. It would need fair access principles for the installation, service and removal of the solar panels and batteries.

Each property’s solar suitability would be assessed by accredited professionals, considering technical viability as well as the property owner’s priorities, for example, planned subdivisions or renovations.

With only five years until the current solar rebates are phased out, now is the time to consider how to boost solar installation without them.

With careful design and drafting, a landowner lending their roof space to the government does not disadvantage them. Owners, renters, the government and the climate would all benefit from solar panels on unused roofs.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Compare Top 7 Tote Bags

Honorable Mentions

Peak Design Everyday Tote for $160: The first time I subbed in this tote for my usual bag, at a youth basketball tournament, I disappointed about a dozen parents who had clocked it as a cooler. “I thought you had brought drinks,” a friend said, dejected. And to their credit, this bag does indeed look a lot like a cooler with its fold-down top and smooth 400D nylon canvas shell. Designed for camera gear (but handy for any kind of gear), it’s got removable divider cubbies that are the perfect size for lenses and accessories, as well as external lashing for tripods. The main opening flips up to open with a magnetic closure, and there are front and back pockets and a section for a laptop. A detachable cross-body strap is included if you don’t want to carry it by the handles. I appreciate its versatility; unisex, water-resistant, and a great matching companion to Peak Design’s Roller Pro carry-on. The only issues I had with it during my testing period were the fact that it doesn’t open super-wide—it’s a tight fit, and I didn’t find it easy to take things in and out—and that the straps aren’t very comfortable to wear as a shoulder bag. —Kat Merck

Cuyana Classic Easy Zipper Tote for $298: This lightweight Italian leather bag is a fashionable and practical choice for commuting if you don’t need a lot of space or compartments. It’s large enough to hold a 16-inch laptop along with some other essentials. Just like the System Tote, you can personalize it with snap-on accessories, such as a tote insert or an adjustable strap that attaches to its D-rings. Plus, it features a discreet zip-top that keeps your items secure, which is great for preventing theft or stuff from falling out. With this work bag, I’m mostly concerned with protecting my electronics inside because of the lack of structure.

Nordstrom Le Pliage for $165: I spent most of my high school and college dodging the Longchamp Le Pliage hype. But when my mom handed down her well-loved Le Pliage tote, I finally got it. This tote is the equivalent of a classic white tee: timeless, versatile, and built to last. This bag is roomy enough to fit all the essentials—laptop, notebook, snack stash—without feeling bulky. Also, it’s inspired by origami, so it folds down small when you need to pack it as a travel bag.

Tory Burch Perry Tote for $395: The Perry Tote is another one of those designer bags that transcends trends and functions as a fashionable work tote. Much like Leatherology’s Alex Laptop Bag Set, I wouldn’t use it as a lunch bag, but it’s definitely the type that radiates quiet authority—and one you’ll want to sport when you want to make an impression. Made from Italian pebbled leather, it wears incredibly well over time. The removable logo charm adds a touch of luxury, but I can take it off whenever I want a more understated look. It features a zippered laptop compartment in the center, plus three slip pockets to keep your possessions in order.

Courtesy of Cozy Earth

Cozy Earth Waxed Canvas Tote for $68: If you’re into minimalistic, functional fashion with a hint of “quiet luxury,” this 12-ounce waxed canvas tote delivers just that. Aesthetically, think Yeezy brand circa 2017 (minus the antisemitism). I love mine in washed navy, but the earthy tones—cedar brown, palm green, and taupe—are just as fashionable. It’s durable enough to endure a farmer’s market spree, an overnight trip, or double as a beach bag. The design is simple but still thoughtful: exterior pockets for quick grabs (keys, phone, an emergency snack) and two interior ones (including a zippered compartment) for keeping your valuables sorted.

Ölend Ona Soft Bag for $115: The Ölend Ona Soft Bag is puffy, vibrant, and offered in a rainbow of colors. Made from water-resistant nylon, it’s a clever twist on the standard tote, designed to stretch its usefulness with every new outfit or occasion. You can wear it four different ways: as a tote, handbag, crossbody, shoulder bag, or even a backpack. The Soft Bag also includes adjustable side straps. While it fits laptops up to 16 inches, I wouldn’t risk stashing my laptop here because there’s no dedicated sleeve. But the external zipper pocket is a playful touch for stashing small essentials.

Dagne Dover Petra Convertible Tote for $300: The Petra is made from recycled polyester and plastic bottles. It’s durable and huge—it fits a 16-inch laptop and is almost 17 inches tall. It’s probably too big for an everyday bag, but it’s a solid weekender. The hardware is heavy-duty metal, and the laptop compartment is padded. For parents, this is also a decent diaper bag.

Courtesy of Fjallraven

Fjallraven Kånken Totepack for $100: We love the Kånken backpack. Its Totepack is essentially the same bag but can convert from a tote to a backpack. The downside is its size, with only a 13-inch laptop pocket and two side pockets for water bottles or a small umbrella—but they’re tight, so don’t expect to fit a 1L Nalgene in there.

Electrical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated the ability to print fully functional and recyclable electronics at sub-micrometer scales. The technique could impact the more than $150 billion electronic display industry and its environmental impact while providing a toehold for U.S. manufacturing to gain traction in a vital and quickly growing industry.

The research appears in the journal Nature Electronics.

“If we want to seriously increase U.S.-based manufacturing in areas dominated by global competitors, we need transformational technologies,” said Aaron Franklin, the Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Chemistry at Duke.

“Our process prints carbon-based transistors that can be fully recycled and provide comparable performance to industry standards. It’s too promising of a result not to be given further attention.”

Electronic displays play a key role across just about every industry: think TVs, computer screens, watch faces and car displays. Nearly all of them are made overseas, mostly in South Korea, China and Taiwan.

The manufacturing process has a significant environmental impact due to the greenhouse gas emissions and enormous energy footprint required by vacuum-based processing. And to top it off, according to a United Nations estimate, less than a quarter of the millions of pounds of electronics thrown away each year are recycled.

Several years ago, Franklin’s laboratory developed the world’s first fully recyclable printed electronics. That demonstration, however, used aerosol jet printing that can’t form features smaller than 10 micrometers, greatly limiting their potential applications in the world of consumer electronics.

In the new research, Franklin and his colleagues worked with Hummink Technologies to break through this size barrier. Their “high precision capillary printing” machines use natural competing surface energies to pull tiny amounts of ink out of an equally tiny pipette. This is the same phenomenon that makes paper towels so absorbent, as liquid is drawn into the narrow spaces between their fibers.

“We sent Hummink some of our inks and had some promising results,” said Franklin. “But it wasn’t until we got one of their printers here at Duke that my group could harness its real potential.”

The researchers used three carbon-based inks made from carbon nanotubes, graphene and nanocellulose that can be easily printed onto rigid substrates like glass and silicon or flexible substrates like paper or other environmentally friendly surfaces. These are essentially the same inks that were originally demonstrated in Franklin’s previous research, but with tweaked fluid properties that allow them to work with the Hummink printers.

In the demonstration, they show this combination of novel ink and hardware can print features tens of micrometers long with small, submicrometer-sized gaps between them.

These small, consistently formed gaps form the channel length of the carbon-based thin-film transistors (TFTs), with smaller channel dimensions translating to strong electrical performance. And it’s these kinds of transistors that form the backplane control of all flat-panel displays.

“These types of fabrication approaches will never replace silicon-based, high-performance computer chips, but there are other markets where we think they could be competitive—and even transformative,” said Franklin.

Behind every digital display in the world is a huge array of microscopic thin-film transistors that control each pixel. While OLED displays require more current and need at least two transistors for each pixel, LCD displays require only one.

In a previous study, the researchers were able to demonstrate their printed, recyclable transistors driving a few pixels of an LCD display. And Franklin believes the new submicrometer printed TFTs are close to having the performance needed for demonstrating the same for OLED displays.

While there are other potential use cases for this technology, such as squeezing more sensors into a chip’s footprint to increase its accuracy, Franklin believes digital displays are the most promising. Besides being fully recyclable, the printing process requires much less energy and produces many fewer greenhouse gas emissions than traditional TFT manufacturing methods.

“Displays being fabricated with something similar to this technique is the most feasible large-scale application I’ve ever had come out of my lab,” said Franklin.

“The only real obstacle, to me, is getting sufficient investment and interest in addressing the remaining obstacles to realizing the considerable potential.”

“Unfortunately, the National Science Foundation program that we were pursuing funding from to continue working on this, called the Future Manufacturing program, was cut earlier this year. But we’re hoping to find a fit in a different program in the near future.”