memes

It's called Agrovoltaics and it works pretty damn good,if you do it right.

The pairing can also offer some synergies. Solar panels can help moderate ground temperatures, provide shelter for livestock and help plants retain moisture.[6] For farmers the ability to produce electricity can help diversify their income stream.

Solar panels block light, which means that dual use systems involve trade-offs between crop yield, crop quality, and energy production.[7] Some crops/livestock benefit from the increased shade, obviating the trade-off,[8] such as green leafy vegetables, and spices such as turmeric and ginger, whereas staple crops such as wheat, rice, soybeans or pulses require more sun.[9] Agrivoltaics has also been used at scale in arid and semi-arid regions to stabilize soils, reduce dust storm intensity, increase vegetation cover, provide forage for livestock, and curb desertification, notably in northern China.[10][11]

How many times is this gonna get posted? It gets dunked on every time too...

Um, they do? Half the retail stores in my area have solar panels in the parking lot.

"Noooo don't replace a tiny part of my monoculture industrial croplands used mostly to feed cattle with the cleanest and cheapest form of energy nooo*

I don't know. Sheep like to park below panels too.

Here's the largest solar farm in California. It covers sand. Also, solar panels don't block 100% of the light getting to the ground, so different species of plants and animals can live and thrive under them. The land under solar panels is not lost to natural use. Life will adapt.

That said, solar panels over car parks is also a good idea. Both things can be true.

This would work well in old mall parking lots -

This is emotionally resonant but it's actually sometimes better to cover fields. The right thing is not always intuitive.

Actually, with climate change in the back of the mind, covering fields with solar panels (not 100%, only partially) will reduce heat damage and water usage in the height of summer, and also protect the ground during cold spells of winter. So it is not that stupid after all.

That covering car parks with solar is a good idea is completely independent of this.

It can be really good to cover the fields!

Reduce evaporation, expand the range of plants that can grow and provide subsidies for hard pressed farmers

Protecting food and water resources are going to get increasingly important over the next few decades

How about we don't cover our fields with car parks?

It's not a bad idea to have energy production near where the energy is being used.

That said, it's not an either or.

Technology Connections actually did a great video on why using solar panels in place of crops can benefit the crops and actually provides more energy than the crops themselves. At least in the U.S., a huge portion of our crops are used for ethanol in gasoline anyway.

both. both is good.

I'll do you one better

Replace most city car infrastructure by bicycle infrastructure. The few remaining required car parks? Move those underground under buildings and parks. Then those places that used to be car parks, make those actual parks to walk and sometimes cycle in

Then move solar on top of building roofs

Saw a documentation a few days ago. It was about a berry Farmer who put solarpanels above his berries to shield them from direct sunlight. Works great! And He could replace all his transporters with EVs. :)

Convert parking lots to fields & sparingly cover them with solar panels?

Pv is around 250-400 times more efficient than energy crops for Bioethanol. So 1ha of pv could free up 249 - to 399 ha of land. Thats an ultimate win!