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> The endangered desert tortoise needs land. Paving it over for solar panels is not the solution. You don't pave over land to install ground based solar. Not
by danans 3y ago
> The endangered desert tortoise needs land. Paving it over for solar panels is not the solution.
You don't pave over land to install ground based solar. Not only is that unnecessary, but would also make the solar way more expensive.
- wernercd 3y agoI assume "pave over" is an alliteration to the fact that even if there isn't square miles of pavement you are in fact destroying ecosystems. Who honestly thinks that solar panel farms involve actual square miles of pavement?
- p1mrx 3y agoErthos is planning to literally pave the ground with panels. It's an interesting idea: https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/utility-scale-solar-has-stagnated-so-erthos-mounts-pv-panels-right-on-the-ground https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/utility-scale-sol...
- danans 3y ago> I assume "pave over" is an alliteration to the fact "pave over" has a pretty distinct meaning even in its figurative uses, referring to the encapsulation of the ground surface with asphalt or concrete, as happens in cities or with major highways. Solar panels aren't really the same, when you consider that they are now being used to shelter crops via agrivoltaics [1], increasing yields and decreasing water use while also providing supplemental income to farmers via electricity sales. > even if there isn't square miles of pavement you are in fact destroying ecosystems More likely modifying ecosystems, not destroying them altogether. Remember that the actual "paving over" of ecosystems - via roads, etc - and the fossil fuel extraction industry have and continue to do far more damage to ecosystems than any renewable generation has. The Kern River oil field near Bakersfield CA isn't exactly the picture of prime wildlife habitat anymore: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/KernRiverFromBluff.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/KernRive... Even the scientist at the forefront of research into the concern about desert ecosystems says [2]: ""It's certainly going to damage some of the ecology. I think that's a tradeoff we have to accept. It's part of becoming less reliant on oil, and more reliant on solar and wind power." 1. https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/articles/potential-agrivoltaics-us-solar-industry-farmers-and-communities https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/articles/potential-agrivol... 2. https://phys.org/news/2009-03-dark-side-solar-power.html https://phys.org/news/2009-03-dark-side-solar-power.html