[ben_w]

The population density map of Switzerland and the elevation map of Switzerland look like inverses of each other. The famous Swiss villages don’t have many people in them compared to the cities, so the situation you describe, while real, isn’t important.

[seanmcdirmid]

In the denser parts of Switzerland, apartments are very common. I don’t see how solar works when people are living in a 5 story building. I couldn't see solar working that well where I lived in Lausanne, for example, at least on a person housed/energy unit basis.

[ben_w]

Five floors probably isn’t too bad, thought of course that depends entirely on how many people in each apartment and how large they are — e.g. one person in a 50 m² place, divided by five floors, with 20% efficient panels, 25% duty cycle for night/latitude, still implies 500 W, compared to the average electricity consumption in Switzerland of about 900 W per person. It’s not everything but it’s also a pretty impressively large number.

(Something I only found out by looking up Swiss energy consumption: apparently Switzerland produces just over half of its current electricity from hydro power, which makes sense considering the terrain).