I always try to gauge things from all angles, much as I can anyway. Solar parking lots are absolute no-brainers. I’m sure there are downsides I’m ignorant of, but damn, I just can’t find any.
For one, there’s nothing political here. We don’t have to convince anyone that global warming is real to show the benefits of a shady parking lot that generates energy. No one is going to whine that they don’t want their vehicle protected from the sun, rain and snow. Big box stores and malls gonna complain about more stable local temps saving them on HVAC? (If anyone doesn’t believe the dramatic effect of last bit, I can demonstrate with a grove of trees, a small glade and a min/max thermometer. Give me a week to leave the thermometers out there and we’ll have a look.)
Replacement costs are real, but I can’t imagine they come remotely close to balancing with energy production. I suppose we could bitch that many of these are being made by literal Chinese slave labor. All right conservatives, belly up to the bar and let’s talk about bringing jobs back home, Made in 'Murica, all those talking points.
They need cleaned. Again, however that’s done, it can’t outweigh the stunningly cheap power. Hell, go caveman style, pay a dude to walk around on top with a garden hose twice a year. And there’s another green business providing green jobs.
I suppose one could argue that solar takes money from local utilities, money that is needed to keep the current infrastructure in place. And like it or not, we’ll need the grid forever, however it’s powered, we have to deliver energy over wires. Some utilities are public, some are private, mine’s a weird combo. Some rake in the profits, some not so much. This issue has to be tackled on a regional basis, no one-size-fits-all, not even for entire states.
There are a few gigantic (to me) solar farms going up in NW FL. While I’m sad to see 100+ acres (each!) wiped off the map, with the loss of habitat, biodiversity and creating another heat island, I’ll take the solar please. And politics again, it’s a no-brainer. People like me, who actually go outdoors and know the ecosystem, would flip to move that production to parking lots. For the conservatives, I doubt they could put numbers on the table showing it’s cheaper to purchase and clear 100+ acres, taking months of heavy machine work and workers, paying property taxes in perpetuity, vs., worst case, retrofitting the local Walmarts and major malls. 100 acres, divided over a few parking lots, is easy to come by, even in my small town.
Politics, yet again. Subsidize the hell out of this. Politicians of all stripes love giving businesses tax breaks to being in jobs. They can frame it any way they damned please to their constituency; “green jobs”, “industry”, “'Murican made”, don’t care.
Sigh, I’m worn out. Someone else take up the rest of this rant… :)
My one critique is that this ruins human habitat and encourages car dependency, where a lot of fossil fuels will go. And no not everyone will drive electric cars soon. People couldn’t handle a mask mandate, they won’t handle a ev mandate. The best thing to do is to infill this land with more housing and commercial space so people don’t have to drive everywhere and just use nuclear power.
Worth pointing out that covering parking lots with solar became the law this year in France. A study there says that if half France’s parking lots were covered in solar panels their output would exceed all of France’s nuclear power stations.
If only someone could have thought of this fifty years ago.
Let’s be clear: republiQans have tried every way to kill green energy and our planet is about to kill us for it. Great ideas like this are just that - ideas - that get voted down in governmental and corporate bodies by right-wing idiots. It’s been that way for FIFTY YEARS. Let’s at least acknowledge it. And by “us” I mean the non-right-wing christofascist big oil bastards that have done this. The rest of us. We need to talk about it this way, or nothing will change. Just as it hasn’t been doing for fifty years.
Nuclear was blocked by public perception. See my earlier comment.
I see no reason big oil can’t pivot to green energy. They’ve got the money, the experts, the lobbyists, the infrastructure, everything.
And I suspect they will, once public opinion and reality bites hard enough. Just like big tobacco saw the writing on the wall after public perception turned and they got their ass handed to them in the courts. They quit playing like their product was safe, or in any way OK, and started in on ecigs.
(I may be full of shit on that last point, in case anyone can correct me.)
Yep, nothing dumber than investing in a clean, green, safe, always-on, reliable power generation system.
Fuck me. I’m 52 and if we hadn’t cut nuclear power when I was a kid, America, and the world, would be far “greener” than today. The world’s worst polluter could have dialed in billions and billions and billions (channeling Sagan here) of tons of CO2.
If the damned China Syndrome movie hadn’t hit 2-weeks before 3 Mile Island released a poof of mildly radioactive steam, we would have had clean energy decades ago.
“The China Syndrome,” starring Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon and Michael Douglas, debuted in theaters on March 16, 1979. The movie portrayed the fictional drama of a California plant getting perilously close to a meltdown.
On March 28, 1979, the nation’s worst commercial nuclear accident occurred at Three Mile Island. The partial meltdown (<- this is a lie) at the plant made worldwide headlines and led to the evacuation of more than 140,000 people in central Pennsylvania.
And for anyone who thinks the historical thing is a stretch, here’s just one example, straight from my childhood:
Think of all the space we have like this and how much we could do if we used it.
It doesn’t even have to be paid for by the owner if they really didn’t want to.
Large mall parking lot that doesn’t want to pay? The utility could form an agreement with them. They save on land costs for generating the power and the customers get covered parking.
Anyone here flown into your own city on a plane? (It’s more relatable when you know where you are and what you’re looking at.) The acreage of commercial rooftops is stunning.
I’m not about to pretend I know the engineering involved in retrofitting rooftop solar, but it seems a no brainer. Even better for new construction, everything is easier.
And if so many homes around here are going solar, I would guess it’s even more sensible for commercial buildings. (Caveat: Going to be more regulations, more expenses, for commercial approvals.)
I think part of the problem with large rooftop on commercial buildings is they aren’t rated for the extra weight. So you could probably put some ontop of the mall, but not completely cover it
I don’t think those solar panels actually weigh that much, especially when it’s spread out over the entire roof… Like less than a pound a square foot extra? I’m no roof weight doctor tho.
I remember reading about it before. It was talking about warehouse roofs that were pretty thin, designed specifically for its current purpose, and fully covering it with solar was too much.
That won’t be everywhere, but at least some places.
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