While I support renewable energy production, especially the solid state energy from solar on roof tops and in urban areas I have many questions about industrial solar facilities, especially when big corporations are asking for exemptions from long standing environmental laws designed to protect our water and land. Industrial solar not converts green space – farm land and forest to an industrial wasteland covered with panels made out of hazardous materials. I think we should be skeptical of industrial solar.
Indeed, the whole purpose of the NEPA and SEQRA is to take a hard look at these industrial facilities to review their environmental impacts and take steps to mitigate their impacts. I’m not saying that industrial solar has no role in energy generation but I think we should be skeptical, especially due to the low energy density of the panels – they consume enormous amounts of land for tiny amounts of energy. Unlike agriculture, where a field can be left fallow and revert back to wilderness, industrial solar facilities are littered with hazardous waste and metals that must be removed and disposed off site when the facility closes.
Field tests, conducted in collaboration with Pusan University in South Korea, demonstrated that, given average wind speeds of 5 meters a second, the device can yield up to 1,500 kilowatt-hours a year, enough to supply about a third to half the electricity a typical home consumes. Mind you, he’s basing the estimate on the average usage of those living in the Netherlands. On average, Americans have residential footprints in the range of 11,000 kilowatt-hours.
And not having spacing between blades, he adds, also makes the structure a lot less susceptible to the kind of vibrations and turbulence responsible for what some who’ve resided near wind have reported to be turbine-induced noise pollution. “Measurements of noise levels near the turbine show a reading of about 42 decibels,” he says. “That’s quieter than the sound of people talking.”
Sounds great like so much of this greenie technology until reality strikes in .... On the usage side, the average American household uses 10,909 kWh per year (it's higher in south because they use electricity for air conditioning, while in the north they burn natural gas or propane rather then electricity for heat -- it's actually much more energy intensive to heat then cool). On the generation site, 1,500 kWh per year is only 171 watts per hour as there are 8,760 hours per year. And that assumes a constant wind speed of 5/m a second or 11.5 mph. But the average wind speed in Albany, 5.5 mph in winter and 3.3 mph in summer. Plus wind turbines are mechanical devices that need maintenance and repair (bearings wear out), compared to solid state devices like solar panels.
The burned a lot of coal at the Bethlehem Steam Station between 1955 and 1980, although because the plant lacked pollution controls, probably the bottom ash is less toxic then modern plants.
There are some that would like a massive conversion of farm fields to industrial solar facilities…
I think this is a terrible idea. Farm land, while working land producing crops to feed humans and livestock 🐮🐷🐔 is still largely wild green space home to many common wildlife need as part of the mixed land cover that sustains them.🌲🌽🌾☘
Agriculture tills the soil, spreads manure, plants and harvests the ground. 🚜 But all but a handful of hours a year is mechanical farm equipment on the land. Some chemicals are used like nitrogen fertilizer or herbicides but for the most part the land is natural and green, soaking up carbon dioxide and providing habitat for a wide variety of animals. Fields are minimally driven in by tractors to minimize soil compaction, often worked with duals to spread the weight of the tractor.⚫ Proper aeration and fertility can take generations to achieve and can be quickly destroyed by heavy equipment.🚚
In contrast, industrial solar is a full industrialization of the land. 😎🏭Years of gently cared for soils risk compaction. Land that once was rural and agricultural will become industrialized and potentially toxic. Green landscape and dirt are replaced silicon panels.
I don’t have a problem with homeowners and businesses going solar by putting panels on their buildings 🏢 but I don’t like the idea of turning green fields 🌾 into the industrial solar facilities.
MADRID — European countries frustrated by inaction on climate change are taking a lesson from President Donald Trump’s trade wars — and threatening carbon tariffs on laggards like the United States.
By imposing tariffs on goods from the U.S. and other countries that lack tough climate policies, the Europeans would help their own industries avoid being handicapped by the EU’s greenhouse gas efforts. But if they hit the U.S., they would risk a worsening trade war with the Trump administration, which has already threatened hefty tariffs on goods such as French champagne and German autos over a range of competition disputes.
