Tesla’s new solar roof: “In case you missed it, here’s what the future looks like,” it says. Note the exurban landscape.

Tesla’s City Problem

Sprawl is structurally unsustainable, yet the EV-Battery-Solar powerhouse continues to portray its products in a suburban future.

Alex Steffen
The Nearly Now
Published in
3 min readOct 31, 2016

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Zero-carbon living demands dense cities.

City living fights climate change.

Unless you’ve been completely out-of-touch with the debate on climate solutions, you probably understand that urban density is one of the best (and best-proven) climate solutions we have. People who live in dense, walkable communities use far less energy and far fewer materials than people who live in sprawling suburbs. (I wrote a whole book on the importance of cities in solving climate change, so I’m not going to rehash the arguments here.)

Dense cities are the key to saving the planet. Indeed, every sustainable future is primarily an urban future. Here’s a TED talk I gave for the tl;dr crowd:

You don’t see much urban future, though, when you look at Tesla’s vision of itself.

Now, Elon Musk and the Tesla team are inventing phenomenal things. Tesla cars have — almost by themselves — made electric vehicles hip. Tesla Powerwall batteries have launched forward home energy storage. Tesla’s anticipated merger with SolarCity will create a whole electric-home-and-vehicle package, one that could be cost-effective for millions of American homes. I’m an unconflicted Tesla fan.

And now Tesla has released its glass tile Solar Roof, which can replace asphalt roofing with tiles that not only keep out the elements but harness the Sun:

Put solar on your large suburban house.
Put solar on your larger suburban house
Put solar on your really large suburban house
Put solar on your largest suburban house

You’ll notice something these promotional photos have in common: Yes, they’re all huge suburban homes with solar roofs.

Now, there is nothing wrong with people who own suburban houses putting solar roof tiles on them — on the contrary, way to go! — but there is something amiss when a company that prides itself on being a provider of visionary sustainability solutions seems unable to envision its solutions being deployed in the context that’s most sustainable.

I am well aware that Tesla wants to brand itself as desirable, first, and then sustainable and smart. The idea, though, that “desirable” means “suburban” is way out date with current cultural reality, and completely out of touch with the demands of the future.

Here’s what I’d love to see Tesla show instead: urban life made hipper and more awesome through the adoption of its cars, batteries and solar technologies. There’s plenty of scope for imagination here.

A suburban Tesla is an improved means to an unimproved (and unsustainble) end.

An urban Tesla is a working part of the future the planet needs.

So, how about it, Tesla? How about re-envisioning the world your innovations are made to serve?

(If you agree, please click the heart below to recommend this story, so others have a chance to see it, too.)

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I think about the planetary future for a living. Writer, public speaker, strategic advisor. Now writing at thesnapforward.com.