The ugly truth about solar farms

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Tubetec

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 18, 2015
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Theres a very large solar installation on a hillside a few miles out of town , around 300 acres are totally covered with panels .
I was able to speak to someone today who knows the landowners involved ,
Apparently once solar panels go on the land its never fit to be used to grow food or graze animals on again ,
the land ends up poisoned .

So this is the green future spit lick politicians are promissing us ?
Yesterday Irelands minister for the environment and green party leader announced he standing down as leader will not contest the next election , I think Eamon Ryan has realised the green vision of the future he was pedaling was a total fantasy .
The Jolly green fraudster .JPG
 
First there are thousands of concrete footings poured in place as foundations for the panel support structure. Areas that are completely shaded have little plant growth so wind and runoff carry away the topsoil. Areas between panels that receive sun are often sprayed with herbicide. Can't have stuff growing up onto the structure or shading the panels. In the rare cases that some ground cover is allowed to grow, it is cut/mowed by gas or diesel powered equipment several times a year. So green.

The site will be unusable for agriculture for decades after even if the money is spent to remove the concrete footings and all the rest of the structure, wiring, etc. There's no magic. Reality is not like the shiny BS story being told. Put the things on rooftops, over parking lots, over roadways, but stop fouling up the countryside to solve urban problems.
 
One things for sure , solar panels contain a cocktail of nasty substances , sooner or later that problem is going to have to be to be dealt with .
Im not party to the contract these people signed , but I do know that part of it said the land will never be fit for agricultural purposes again and is prevented from ever being used for that purpose .
 
Imagine 20 years down the line , the company has folded , the panels abandoned ,
Panels can become damaged by moisture ingress , some panels fail in this respect early on , but its always only going to be a matter of time or lack of proper maintenance before whats inside makes its way into the environment.
Wheres your data that says panels never leak Radardoug ?
 
The right way to do it is mixed agriculatural / solar power usage:

https://www.reuters.com/business/en...winemaker-keep-climate-change-bay-2021-10-04/

And the stuff about "poisened" soil is fake news. No permit for a solar farm would be issued (at least here in Germany) if anything like that were the case.

Meanwhile, oil, coal etc. poisen the environment with toxic waste and CO2. So please, let's keep the propaganda out of this forum.
 
BTW, there are much lower hanging fruits. For example, I was in Chicago last year. From the top of the Willis Tower you can see every roof in the city. Bare concrete everywhere, not a single solar installation. Every factory building, every department store, every roof period should have them. They are so cheap and efficient now that it can make more sense to build a fence out of solar modules rather than bricks or wooden plates. Batteries are getting cheaper everyday and there is an ever growing pile of old electric car batteries that can have a second life as energy buffers.

Stop believing the lies spread by the fossile fuel industry. Their PR people and lawyers are the same who told the world decades ago that smoking didn't cause cancer.
 
I would prefer to see gardens planted on city rooftops.

Solar panels on empty warehouse roofs may make sense based on the cost/benefit economics. I still don't feel confident about government subsidy programs.

President Biden recently instituted tariffs on Chinese solar, battery, and EVs. Most likely a desperate attempt to buy votes from swing state voters (like MI). Not to save the planet.

JR
 
Tariffs are an attempt to buy votes? That's funny, the right doesn't call it that when Trump implements them (and pays off soy farmers with our tax dollars when they're hit with retaliatory tariffs) and promises many more in a second term.
I guess it's just like how, for them, environmental costs only count for solar, not oil or gas or coal. :unsure:
 
adhominem is attacking people instead of discussing the policies.

Indeed a 100% tariff on Chinese EV is a blatant appeal to Michigan auto workers. ExPresident Trump is playing chess instead of checkers observing that Chinese automakers are already investing in building auto factories in Mexico to get around the tariffs.

JR
 
My apologies if I offended you.
I will note that only discussing the possible environmental impacts of one type of energy and poo-pooing those impacts for the rest is not, in fact, a meaningful discussion of policy. Especially when the evidence is of the variety "I know a guy who knows a guy who says someone told him..."
I am also unclear on how a huge proponent of tariffs noting that tariffs can be circumvented is "playing chess not checkers".
 
PermO said:
Ah, so a antique Russian installation that went wrong is still the norm today in the West ?
Click to expand...

After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the Japanese government established a 20 kilometer (12 mile) exclusion zone around the plant on March 11, 2011 (spanning 1,250 sq. km). The government also designated areas beyond the 20 kilometer radius as an evacuation zone due to concerns that radiation levels could reach 20mSv within a year.
Click to expand...

If someone has a primary source that solar farms necessarily become uninhabitable wastelands until the heat death of the universe I'd love to see it.
 
jabe said:
My apologies if I offended you.
Click to expand...
I'm kind of used to it, but it could also be offensive to millions of like minded voters.
jabe said:
I will note that only discussing the possible environmental impacts of one type of energy and poo-pooing those impacts for the rest is not, in fact, a meaningful discussion of policy.
Click to expand...
I have posted ad nauseam about thoughtful responses to climate change. I will repeat Lomborg's book "Best things first" shows uncommon sense on the subject.
jabe said:
Especially when the evidence is of the variety "I know a guy who knows a guy who says someone told him..."
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agreed
jabe said:
I am also unclear on how a huge proponent of tariffs noting that tariffs can be circumvented is "playing chess not checkers".
Click to expand...
It reveals I higher level awareness, thought process. A business man vs a transactional politician, while I suspect ex-President Trump is learning transactional politics (vote buying) with his campaign to eliminate taxation on service worker tips. 🤔

As Alexis de Tocqueville observed over a century ago once the politicians figure out that they can bribe voters with their own money Democracy is doomed. ;)

JR
 
Matador said:
If someone has a primary source that solar farms necessarily become uninhabitable wastelands until the heat death of the universe I'd love to see it.
Click to expand...
Nice flaming strawman. How many nuclear accidents have occurred per GWHr produced? Solar and wind are neither "free" nor free from negative consequences. Without magical mass battery tech (be it electrochemical, thermal, or other), they are not suitable for baseline energy generation.

Will you donate your land (assuming you own some) for burial of non-recyclable wind turbine blades or solar panels as a virtuous symbol of your green commitment?
 
AnalogPackrat said:
First there are thousands of concrete footings poured in place as foundations................
Click to expand...

Aaand, concrete/cement does not break down, ever. Go on holiday and come back fifty million years later, it will still be there

It is the worst contaminant for mother earth. Yet, I do not see any "greener than holly" brigade swapping their apartments for tents.
 
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