141–150 of 154 posts
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Deserts are rapidly disappearing?
Pristine deserts are. Invasive species, drought, and human development are all damaging desert ecosystems, which take much longer to recover than less arid biomes. Just because deserts appear barren doesn't mean there isn't an ecosystem there that isn't important.
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In many countries it's hostile legislation to make it worse and increase soft costs. Australia was only recently allowed to include batteries on solar.
> Australia was only recently allowed to include batteries on solar. Source? Tesla Powerwall was introduced into the Australian market in 2015. From what I understand, other residential systems existed before that, but they were uncommon. In 2019, they significantly tightened the safety standards, but the impact on people running approved off-the-shelf systems (such as Tesla's) is modest (tighter rules on installatio…
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> Australia was only recently allowed to include batteries on solar. Source? Tesla Powerwall was introduced into the Australian market in 2015. From what I understand, other residential systems existed before that, but they were uncommon. In 2019, they significantly tightened the safety standards, but the impact on people running approved off-the-shelf systems (such as Tesla's) is modest (tighter rules on installatio…
Utility, not residential.
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> Deserts are important ecosystem Are you using "important" to say "have a function beyond being inert matter"? Then sure, but that information is already conveyed by saying "it's an ecosystem", adding that kind of "important" doesn't add information. If you mean "rank above many other things in a similar category" then I'm skeptical. The first one isn't helpful in this context because we need to put PV somewhere, we…
> The first one isn't helpful in this context because we need to put PV somewhere, we might as well look for a place of less relative importance. Yes, like the places I mentioned in my comment
That it works for some fraction doesn't mean it's sufficient to get us the terawatts we need. And economics matter. If the installation is more expensive then it'll take longer for PV to replace existing plants.
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As someone in Texas I'd really love is more parking lots had even partial covered parking with solar above. Please. It gets dang hot out here, I'd love the shade.
shoot, around my parts of Texas, when you stand in the shade of a tree, the tree looks at you and says, "trust me, it's not any cooler here"
I’m no farmer but wouldn’t putting a whole bunch of stuff in a field make it difficult to drive a tractor through it? Like have you seen the size of modern tractors? These panels will need to be 20ft in the air with support posts really far apart to accommodate seed drills and sprayers and other equipment that the tractor pulls behind it.
there's no reason to put solar panels on fertile land, there is plenty of land that can be used in other places.
That said, these threads always confirm in me a belief that we need to cut human population replacement to save the planet and our own species.
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"things live there" can also be true about gamma-ray sterilized canned food[0]. That doesn't mean it's important to the continued functioning of the ecosphere. Also, some deserts are more lifeless than others. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinococcus_radiodurans
I don't see what point you are making that contradict my original comment. Yes deserts are less important to the health of the planet than biodiversity hotspots, but why would we destroy them when we have other alternatives?
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That's an awful lot of vitriolic words to express: comparing kW and kWp is a type error. > This is caused by the unfortunate fact which is that the sun doesn't shine at all for at least half of the year And factually incorrect. Currently sitting in Northern Europe making 5.05kW from a 5.6kWp installation.
... Currently. And average ?
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Wool has a protective layer of grease, the same thing that makes your hair feels "greasy" if you don't wash your hair for a month. This grease is washed away during wool processing and sold as lanolin. And also, the degradation that you see on sun-damaged clothing is mostly on the dye, not the underlying fabric itself.
> the degradation that you see on sun-damaged clothing is mostly on the dye, not the underlying fabric itself. UV light will absolutely wreck most things, including fabric. Fabric left outdoors unprotected for a summer in Southwest US will be brittle and tear apart when handled. Plastic that isn't UV-protected will crack in about two summers. Hoses left in the sun will develop multiple leaks in 3-5 years, pretty much…
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> The first one isn't helpful in this context because we need to put PV somewhere, we might as well look for a place of less relative importance. Yes, like the places I mentioned in my comment
Installing in deserts means you need minimal mechanical support for the panels. Parking lots require raised ones. Individual roofs are small compared to large solar farms. Most farming isn't compatible with panels (think tractors and harvesters). That it works for some fraction doesn't mean it's sufficient to get us the terawatts we need. And economics matter. If the installation is more expensive then it'll take lon…
I wouldn't underestimate the power of distributed arrays either. There are estimates that if every house had rooftop solar, it would generate 30-40% of total power demand [0], and that is just residential.
Perhaps we cannot replace all power using brownfield PV but we shouldn't just disregard the desert or other pristine ecosystems without also utilizing other alternatives to minimize our impact.
[0] https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.computerworld.com/article/3...