There's some rudimentary info here on why it's actually a good idea: science.howstuffworks.com/envi…

Also, we can have solar panels on BOTH fields and car parks!

Both is better!

But I understand that here in Louisiana, it's impossible. You see, if we covered our car parks then the cars we're forced to use wouldn't get steaming hot under the summer sun.

Sorry, it's very important that we make everyone extremely miserable for no reason. It's extremely important that we don't provide any shade to parked cars here in hot miserable Louisiana.

We also got rid of window awnings. That was very important also.

As panels are getting cheap, the support structure becomes a serious part of the cost (and even of the embedded energy). You need a lot more steel and foundations for such elevated panels.

Not sure about now, but not too long ago parking lots were money-losing PR projects(look us being green), while the field ones were serious.

Once we have enough PV to saturate summer peaks, every next panel produces less useful power. So lower cost is critical

@stux⚡ #whyNotBoth?

(there are some plants that, in some parts of the world, have been shown to grow better in the partial shade provided by solar panels than they would in the full sun)

(I suspect that they would be a bit higher up than they seem to be in the first image)

Rooftop solar, on just HALF of the world's roofs, would produce MORE electricity than is used today from ALL sources. And would uplift all people, strengthen all people, and drive a permanent economic boom.

Let every Neighbourhood become Saudi Arabia, but free.

#climate

theconversation.com/solar-pane…

Solar panels on half the world’s roofs could meet its entire electricity demand – new research

India and China are the cheapest places to install rooftop solar, while the US, Japan and the UK are the most expensive.

^{The Conversation}

Solar panels on fields can be very beneficial for the vegetation.

You can even generate energy on 3 levels above the field (huge windmills, smaller windmills, solar panels) while saving water because the plants have more shade.

Parking lots on the other hand shouldn't exist at all.

All the nations have transmission lines. Running across acres and acres, across manufacturing zones, beside residential areas, from powerplant to city to harbour.

Often VERY cheap because govt already owns land.

Put solar UNDER ALL THE LINES, mile after mile after mile.

Put the solar cells at eight feet, feed goats on the brush beneath the solar arrays, and tomatoes.

Solar power plants are 100% compatible with farming and biodiversity.

The area we will need to cover is a tiny fraction of the total used for farming, and they are not mutually exclusive.

energy.gov/eere/solar/articles…

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrivo…

use of the same area of land for solar photovoltaic power and for conventional agriculture

^{Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)}

also this though…

axios.com/local/des-moines/202…

I'm probably not the only person to point this out, but fields that are shaded by solar panels have been shown to be more productive.

Covering both is fine with me.

Galaxy brain: large enough parking lots for a solar farm shouldn’t exist in cities and we should abolish car dependence and build walabke cities to be green.

Also infra for over solar covering car ports is 100x more expensive than some cheap panels in an field.

I see a lot of: "why not both"

And I am fully ageeing with that but the point of this is one more that we should start covering car lots first before we put up endless rows in fields

Both is a great option but start with the crappy one first I guess 😉

Sometimes placing solar panels on farms actually helps. You may need less irrigation and the optimal amount of sunlight is different for various crops. This may, of course, depend on your climate: it is not "one size fits all."

nrdc.org/stories/made-shade-pr…

I like the idea of solar paving slabs durable enough to walk on and even cover roads.

I'm surprised governments aren't scrambling to invest in these. Instead the UK wants nuclear power stations that'll cost magnitudes more, and take decades to build and integrate with the grid. Madness...

I've actually read somewhere that covering fields with solar panels instead of mono-cultured farm land actually helps nature, especially animals that can use it to live under and find food (that would potentially not grow on farm land or be polluted with pesticides)

Also seeing as we need to focus on getting rid of cars first I kinda feel like it's a waste of resources to try to make parking cars feel better by adding shadow. 👀

Just get rid of the car parks, put down plants and the solar panels on top. Maybe even some nice parks and sitting areas under it.

some crops benefit from the shade actually. Some farmers who aren't yet bought out by big corpos need the extra dosh from hosting solar to stay independent too.

Why not just get rid of car parks entirely and make public transit freely accessible?

Start with all car parks, yes. And irrigation canals. And roofs that aren't usable as terraces or greenspaces.

And! There's some crops & livestock that actually do well under raised solar panels! That should become normalized.

Do both... WITH THE POWER OF AGRIVOLTAICS!!!!!!

(Just imagine reverb there.)

Solar panels actually improve the yields of raspberries and grapes, because those crops are sensitive to too much direct sunlight. I'm sure there are other crops that benefit, I just haven't seen any papers that talk about them.

Solar panels actually benefit many crops by providing shade. I'm sure it works poorly for wheat and corn and other grains.

Covering car parks is an excellent idea.

You are on the wrong track, Stux.

#AgriVoltaics

*Both* make a lot of sense, climate permitting OFC:

mastodon.social/@HistoPol/1099…

HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴

2023-03-04 20:09:22

Part 1: #ClimateChange

Wow.

Solution to the #ClimateCrisis using #SolarPanels for #farming: #Agrivoltaics

"Properly designed solar installations can increase food #harvests, reduce the need for #irrigation, revive dying lakes, rescue #pollinators, restore #soils + cool overheated humans—all while producing more power than conventional solar arrays."

"In 1982, researchers @ the #FraunhoferInstitute for Solar Energy (ISE) in Germany proposed a... solution..."

pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2301…

At the risk of being contrarian to the admin of my instance (😬):

Intelligent use of solar panels *can* actually enhance the productivity of agricultural land. Turns out a lot of plants and animals evolved in environments that are occasionally shaded. Who knew? 🤷‍♀️

And car parks large enough to support a solar farm shouldn't exist to begin with. Put housing and mixed-use buildings there with panels on the roof, instead of panels over an endless plane of tarmac.