We have been given give away budget after give away budget mate.
Tax will fall again today
Buying votes.
A brilliant piece by a brilliant writer.
We have been colonised by fossil fuel companies and our politicians enable it. We need to wake up.
2 Likes
Thatās savage devastation in North Carolina.
Using farmlands for solar panels offers advantages on a larger scale compared to using car parks, but both have specific contexts where they are beneficial. Hereās a comparison based on the scale of land, energy production, and additional benefits:
- Scale and Availability of Land
Farmlands: Farmlands provide much larger areas for installing solar panels. The average farm spans several acres, meaning the potential for large solar farms is substantial. For example, a 1-acre solar farm can typically generate between 300-400 MWh of electricity per year, which can power about 30 homes. This scale can be expanded across hundreds or thousands of acres in rural areas.
Car Parks: Car parks are much smaller in scale. Even large parking lots only cover a few acres at most, limiting their energy-generating capacity. A large car park may produce 1-2 MW of power annually, which is minimal compared to the output from large solar farms.
- Energy Efficiency and Infrastructure
Farmlands: Solar farms on farmlands benefit from more efficient energy production due to the open, flat terrain that allows for optimal solar panel placement and tracking systems. Additionally, they can be located close to transmission lines in rural areas, reducing energy losses during transmission.
Car Parks: Solar panels over car parks (often referred to as solar canopies) are limited by existing infrastructure like light poles and car spaces. While they serve dual purposes (providing shade and generating energy), they canāt be optimized for energy efficiency the way solar farms can.
- Potential for Co-Benefits
Farmlands: Thereās potential for agrivoltaics, where solar panels and crops coexist. This can maximize land use by generating energy and producing food simultaneously. For example, crops like tomatoes, lettuce, or certain grains can grow under solar panels with minimal impact on their yield.
Car Parks: Solar panels over car parks offer the benefit of providing shade for cars, reducing the heat island effect in urban areas. However, they donāt offer the dual land-use potential of farmlands.
- Environmental and Social Considerations
Farmlands: Using farmlands for solar can raise concerns about food security and habitat loss if too much agricultural land is converted to energy production. However, there are many underused or marginal farmlands that are less suitable for crops but ideal for solar energy.
Car Parks: Solar panels in car parks make use of already developed land, reducing the need to disrupt natural habitats or agriculture. However, the limited scale makes them more of a supplementary rather than primary solution.
Conclusion:
Using farmlands for solar panels provides a much larger-scale opportunity for clean energy production, with the potential for co-benefits like agrivoltaics. Car parks, while useful for urban solar installations, canāt match the scale of farmlands. Solar farms on large tracts of rural land can generate hundreds of megawatts, enough to power entire towns, while car park solar panels remain a localized solution. Both approaches are necessary for different contexts, but farmlands offer the greater potential for large-scale renewable energy generation.
A bad day for believers in climate change lads. Trump is gonna tear shit up left right and centre. Coming on the back of the revelation that @Little_Lord_Fauntleroy has a conor mcgregor tatto it has been a very bad couple of days for the planet
6 Likes
Is musk not a big believer in climate change ?
Musk isnt president. A heap of trump backers are fossil fuel heads. Heās gonna tear up climate agreements.
Given that he launches a lot of rockets into space I doubt it