11–20 of 68 posts
What about using that energy to emit light that plants can use at nighttime?
Plants in fields typically get way more light than they need, as it is, and benefit from shade. Some pepper varieties show 3x yield, given afternoon shade. I wonder about powering UV LEDs under crop plants to control weeds.
Sorry only have german link: https://www.oekolandbau.de/landwirtschaft/betrieb/oekonomie/...
Even if this is a good solution, there's probably so much space for capacity in e.g. parking lots and roads that I doubt there's a need for this, other than it being beneficial to the farmers. Which is a good enough reason, but the lack of space issues for solar panels are misleading. A sidenote on the first sentence in the article: I question the narrative that we are struggling to support 8 billion people because o…
The amount of this land that is dedicated to growing food for livestock and the livestock themselves is simply astounding. Reducing meat consumption is a much simpler solution and I believe the one that will win out anyway. Complicated solar systems like this will only become relevant once we’ve addressed the low hanging fruit (pun intended) of overproduction of meat.
Even precision fermentation is an easier to implement fix for land use, which looks increasingly like it can reduce our need for land to grow grains. See Solar Foods for example
> There is no unused arable land on a planet that’s already struggling to support a human population that cleared 8 billion last month The amount of this land that is dedicated to growing food for livestock and the livestock themselves is simply astounding. Reducing meat consumption is a much simpler solution and I believe the one that will win out anyway. Complicated solar systems like this will only become relevant…
Solutions to problems ought to address root causes.
This article promotes false assumptions. Ordinary solar can work fine in fields, because most plants don't use light beyond a few hours' worth, and endure the heat, after. A practical arrangement is bifacial panels in vertical fencerows running north-south, to pick up morning and afternoon sun, spaced widely enough for equipment to run between. Blocking morning sun preserves dew, and blocking afternoon cuts heat stre…
Wish we could drive solar on empty fields in winter..
What about using that energy to emit light that plants can use at nighttime?
Many / most plants need some darkness to keep internal clocks properly functioning. So maybe the effective day could be extended a bit, but likely not a whole lot; IDK if the increase in growth would be worth the LEDs.
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/10/alaskas-giant-vegetabl...
> There is no unused arable land on a planet that’s already struggling to support a human population that cleared 8 billion last month The amount of this land that is dedicated to growing food for livestock and the livestock themselves is simply astounding. Reducing meat consumption is a much simpler solution and I believe the one that will win out anyway. Complicated solar systems like this will only become relevant…
The root cause of the problem was plainly mentioned: 8 billion people and counting. Solutions to problems ought to address root causes.
If you have a tailor, that's you.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The root cause of the problem was plainly mentioned: 8 billion people and counting. Solutions to problems ought to address root causes.
The Pareto principle applies. Most of the problem is caused by the top billion people ordered by income. If you have a tailor, that's you.
Therefore it's not "us vs them" it's all of us together and the root cause is indeed the overall number.