Solar crops!

Sertorius01

24 weeks ago

Nature has figured out how to take sunlight and carbon dioxide and directly create sugar. Nature has figured out how to take sugar and polymerize it into (1) starch (2) cellulose (3) lignan Nature has figured out how to take starch and convert it into oil (1) your own body Nature has figured out how to take cellulose and convert it into oil through two opposite procedures (1) living fungi and herbivores, (2) the dead geology of coal and oil Nature has figured out to create (1) hemoglobin with a central iron atom (2) chlorophyll with a central magnesium atom as the keys to invent (1) aerobic respiration (2) photosynthesis But Man can't even create a single chlorophyll molecule in a test tube. We'd rather build 2 ton automobiles powered by 1/2 ton batteries and pretend to charge them with solar panels and energy-negative windmills.

I would be concerned the panels get damaged and leech the chemicals into the crops when it rains

Harvesting crops planted beneath solar panels would be very difficult and more costly to harvest.

do you like mudkips?

a good place for panels is all the storage units warehouses you see everywhere.

I live in an arid coastal region and there's a farm nearby that uses a solar field to power a desalination plant which provides water to grow primarily tomatoes. A lot of tomatoes. They also use a different solar technology where reflective panels point at a tower which melts salt and stores heat to be used in a more conventional generator. Sundrop farms is the name of the facility. Solar works where I live but the occasional overcast day makes me think it'd be pretty shit in an area where it's frequently overcast.

I hope when the technology can pay it's own way every roof will be a solar panel. I hope the same for smaller windmills tho the nimbys will bitch they're unsightly.....

solar panels contain cadmium tellurium and all kinds of other fun elements that I really don't want around the crops that I'm going to eventually eat

monsternav

24 weeks ago

Nuclear FTW.

Scotthalloween

24 weeks ago

Set the panels in space, Use them to power lasers that are focused to provide heat to turn turbines to make power. Use dirt to grow crops. Or better yet, tap volcanos to produce power. Your pal Scott.

Kitcso

24 weeks ago

solar creates high temp above unit killing bees and harming birds if in huge numbers And then... next wind storm or hail... lighting on the patio-- fine... a city.. no f ing way

here in West Texas you about have to put a roof over your garden or the Texas heat and lack of rain will cook them, and for get about watering them since the electrical grid is always warming of overstress and water restrictions... shit my garden got barbecued and the squash barely did anything and I had plants growing that were accidental, those are weeds that produce though.

I'd be concerned about leaked carcinogenics and heavy metals. There's also the consideration of DNA damage from prolonged exposure to EM radiation for the entire lifespan of the plant.

Solar fields are created by corporate energy investors, Gvt subsidies (“Green initiatives”) and intervention into the free market by being gatekeepers/ doormen, to restrict the ability of the average homeowner to harvest their own self sufficient amount of energy, by restricting supply which increases demand and thereby, the cost, making the tech near unobtainable to the average persons all so Gvt and Energy Corps can use energy/ energy policy as a means to control said persons, profit individually and ensure the continuity of their organisations.

Of the Co2 which enters the atmosphere each year humans contribute 3-4%. There is no climate emergency!.

AWBonde

24 weeks ago

Solar[poison]panel eyesores are no replacement for stable, flexible, affordable electricity, i.e. nuclear, natural gas or coal, which work independently of time of day, season and weather. Apart from polluting the environment both visually and chemically, solar panels get destroyed by hail storms and get shut down by snow when you need them most. 'Alternative energy' should rightfully be called 'alternative to energy'.

Hydrogen not solar is going to be the future. Invest in Hydrogen powered cars instead of Electric. Electric cars will go by the wayside and manufacturers better figure out a way to convert them to Hydrogen/Water powered vehicles. Maybe Hydrogen/Gasoline hybrids at first? Solar and Wind powered anything causes more long term damage that they are worth. China is filled with rotting solar and wind devices, as well as oceans of unusable electric cars.

they will not be correctly angled so output will be much lower. there is a limited amount of copper and silver. they need to be deployed to strategic locations in the south. the north is not worthy of of solar. for example in fall and winter in 47deg lattitude (seattle) they need to be at almost 68degrees and south facing. putting them on a roof where they are not angled properly and then collect pollen and pine needles to never be cleaned is a waste of materials.

I know!! WHO CARES!!!

That makes too much sense Styx...therefore, it will never happen until they've bulldozed all our National Parks.

Fun Fact: A single solar panel requires at least one year of use at maximum sunshine ( no rain) just to create the equivalent joules of energy required to MELT all the silicon into wafers, (and glass) , metals and rare earths that the panel is comprised of. Then there's the petroleum required to mine, manufacture and transport those materials to the factory. furthermore, Unless the factory is fortunate enough to have its own methane burning gas-turbine on site ( the cleanest and most affordable source of electricity that presently exists on Earth) then that source of power will likely come from hundreds of miles away, 30% of which will be lost as heat through copper power lines.

Actually, many shade-loving plants can live in solar fields. A major field and associated battery bank is going into the area near the Hidalgo County Airport, where the lack of irrigation water has shut down the crop lands. This is leading to more electricity for the area during peak usage times without cutting into usable crop lands (and there is no real forestry here beyond mesquite and cactus...).

FlipShibby

24 weeks ago

Like beer and dairy; in the early days of inefficient, dirty, electricity; they produced it micro locally. Then they took all that noise pollution and dangerous soot, way beyond the reach of those they provided it for; and offered it to everyone at the exact same government subsidized price. But who wouldn't pay more for the satisfaction of a community who produces their own energy needs, in a variety of efficient, modern and different ways? And in many cases, virtually free, like in Hydro, wind and fire. Or perhaps a legion of Amish men and women on pedal powered, electric turbines?

FlipShibby

24 weeks ago

Do you Gas your Grass?

acougargotme

24 weeks ago

All I heard was a man in my head yelling “MY CABBAGES!!!” when you mentioned growing cabbage

JuxtaPostin

24 weeks ago

I would bet solar panels leak poison?!

Solar panels are completely opaque. There's little nuance at all in it's light intensity(or heat) moderation. It either completely cuts the light off from an area on the plant or not. It's like having a solid building between the sun and the crop. Yeah, I'm not necessarily against solar, but there's little advantage having a sensitive electronic device with it's potentially corrodable support structure and electrical connections amongst crops with physically and chemically active roots sitting in ideally moist to wet soil that can output all manner of ph unbalanced organic chemicals and plant materials that can really mess things up if it's all not carefully maintained for the setup..

Big box stores roofs and parking lots.

dude !!! check out nikoli tesla's theory, and conequent experiments, with transmitting electricity thru the ground ! im kinda surpried youhavent !!!?! theres some u tube videos on it !

If you want recyclable solar panels you should be using Obama's all metal solar cells. Humans were recycling metal before the beginning of recorded history.

There are the woooo woooo hand waving and say "magnetism" people who love the idea of stringing copper all over a garden hoping to make their cucumbers grow 2% faster if they don't kill it. It's just not practical. Most of this stuff is just a question of how practical it is. Glass is 100% recyclable and so is just about everything else, but usually much more expensive than just making a new one and in some cases, that shouldn't be the way it is. Cost is sometimes, already being manipulated to make something cheap in one place and expensive in another.

Just don't send an armed tax man to everyone's house to gather the funds to help pay for it! It must pay its own way.

Switchgrass was supposed to be the filler crop. Solar on roofs for daytime peak demand shaving works.