Fighting 'Solar Farm' Installation

[Rockbadchild]

I do not like the view of wind farms. They permanently disrupt the view of the horizon, and the red lights all at once for as far as you can see would drive me nuts. I like looking out my windows at night and seeing stars.

I noticed another wind farm off to the east of US 31 somewhere on our drive home north from Indy on Friday. I probably wouldn't have noticed it had it not been for the blinking synchronized lights.

At least solar farms are down low, and pretty easy to to planting around the perimeters to limit the view of them. And they don't glow at night.

I agree and there is lot more downside to wind farm vs solar farm ... wind farm emit low frequency sound that affect us (apparently) and the wildlife around them, they are known to kill a lot of bird, they need lots of maintenance and that maintenance and construction is dangerous. Plus what you brough up but I guess thats opiniated some people might think it look good... but they probably don't live by them.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

What's the number one crop in North America? Lawn grass.

The top picture looks more like a parody of the "english country estate" dream and a complete waste of valuable farm land. I'd rather see protests against people mowing acres of lawn on their mini country estates.

Farming is a commercial operation. Solar farms are commercial. Mowing lawns simply for creating parkland vistas isn't.

It's used for hay and horses to graze.

 

[Jstpssng]

A mowed lawn also creates a danger barrier for mice, snakes, and other vermin who don’t like crossing it because of overhead danger.

All of those hawks people used to kill do serve a function.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

It's all in the naming. Solar farm sounds less threatening than electrical production facility.

Yeah, they should throw scratch under the panels and raise free range chickens. Then they can get tingly feelings of wholesomeness when they eat the eggs, full circle. Unless they are vegetarian, then they can operate as a chicken shelter. Really it's a tax break deal.

 

[TN8Man]

So we need to spend time/effort to look for what happens when oil/gas run out. You can say it will take a thousand years, but no one knows and it gets more expensive every year to get more.

Oil and coal won't run out in our lifetime nor your children's lifetime nor the grand and great grandkids lifetime and way beyond.

There is a new energy source currently being developed that will replace coal and oil and its not solar or wind energy.

U.S. announces nuclear fusion energy breakthrough: "One of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century"​

 

[kenmbz]

Fusion will be great, We should be more focused on this and fission waste reduction.

Oil will run out as it is not being renewed.

Coal mining and burning is incredibly destructive, ask China, India, Thailand and any other country that has thick touchable air and lots of waste slag poisoning their water.

 

[Rockbadchild]

Planet earth will never run out of oil .... We will run out of affordable oil to extract, its different... its being said that the biggest untouched world oil reserve might be in the north Artic...

 

[MossRoad]

At least with windmills the ground can still be farmed. And the lease can help farmers be more profitable. I am ok with anything that helps farmers!

The farmers are leasing the land to the solar companies. So Yay for them, right?

 

[kenmbz]

Planet earth will never run out of oil .... We will run out of affordable oil to extract, its different... its being said that the biggest untouched world oil reserve might be in the north Artic...

View attachment 794497

I hope that oil never gets found.

Don't think we need to strip mine and tear apart another continent and flood the planet with more melting ice.
How much money is already being spent to shore up coastlines around the world.

Eventually the planet will throw us off if we try hard enough.

Same reason why I don't throw garbage in my year. I have a lot of space, but eventually my well will become toxic and the land would get filled up with trash.
Maybe not in my lifetime, so I won't worry then.

 

[MossRoad]

One day Nuclear energy will be realistic, it's a great source but leaves a huge mess behind.
Coal is dirty even with scrubbers. When I was a kid rain washed cars, now it just covers them with dust. Scranton used to have black sky year round. London fog was coal.
Natural Gas is cleaner and is a great source until it either runs out or gets to cold.

So we need to spend time/effort to look for what happens when oil/gas run out. You can say it will take a thousand years, but no one knows and it gets more expensive every year to get more.

Fracking caused earthquakes, so it needs to be planned better, and not by greedy oil companies.

Solar, wind, water electrical have high maintenance, but seem to produce less waste, yet to be seen and we will run into disposal problems if recycling isnt's at the forefront, which it is not as it costs money that has no financial return as far as producers are concerned.

I still would rather have solar fields than nuclear as they are currently. A tornado, earthquake or other natural disaster (like in Japan) creates problems for thousand of years with nuclear.
And burying the waste is one of the silliest disposal methods I have ever heard of. How long do the barrels last vs. the spent fuel??

There are two types of uranium used for fuel in nuclear reactors, U-238 and U-235. [3] The half-life of U-235 is 700 million years, while U-238 has a much larger half-life of 4.5 billion years

Solar is nuclear energy.

So is wind.

 

[Rockbadchild]

I hope that oil never gets found.

Don't think we need to strip mine and tear apart another continent and flood the planet with more melting ice.
How much money is already being spent to shore up coastlines around the world.

Eventually the planet will throw us off if we try hard enough.

Same reason why I don't throw garbage in my year. I have a lot of space, but eventually my well will become toxic and the land would get filled up with trash.
Maybe not in my lifetime, so I won't worry then.

I agree to a extent ... Canada is very reluctant to approve oil exploration up there the same cant be said for Russia tho

 

[JJT]

I don’t know this for a fact but I‘m pretty sure it true but when a wind farm near here built it generated quite a bit of property tax for a small school district. The state cut back its contribution so they didn’t really come out ahead.

There's an installation in NY, with 100+ wind turbines, the host benefit was the wind company picked up the school tax for the the entire community. That's how you get buy-in from the people that aren't getting a royalty check. There was lots of community support. State funding was not cut.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

It's possible. While living in CT, when they were proposing the lottery, casinos, scratchers etc. they claimed the majority of the money would go to education. It pretty much went into the general fund, where some did go to education, but no more than they had done previously. just gave the state more funds to spend on what they wanted.

Our state started with the lottery scholarship back in 1996. Since then there have been over 144,000 graduates with Bachelor's degrees. This is not including the hundreds of thousands of Associates degrees. This is for 100% tuition cost at any college or university in the state.

It CAN be beneficial to fund community projects or costs. It just has to be well managed and legally earmarked for those costs.

 

[wawajake]

yeah lets use power so you can make power make sense ...usually these heat trace grid are pretty spars from one to the other so it can take a while if its pretty cold and thick snow plus lots of existing one are not equipped with them. So it is still a reality and the reality is there for anywhere from 3 to 7 days a winter ... that means you are not getting the power during these days so you can't depend on that power during these days plus the days it is overcast ... so it is valid regardless

To further the problem with snow cover on solar panels.....here in Northern Ontario Canada , we have a 100 acre solar farm 15 miles down road, they clear the snow with two diesel Kubota side by sides on tracks with auto brooms sticking out ..... funny to see.

 

[K5lwq]

The farmers are leasing the land to the solar companies. So Yay for them, right?

If they can benefit from it then yes. I am not familiar with how the lease or whatever works for solar but in West Texas they can farm right around the windmills and was told, although not verified, they are getting $2500 a acre for the use of the land. I would think that is way better than the solar fields. I can not see them getting more for solar but maybe you know?

 

[Rockbadchild]

To further the problem with snow cover on solar panels.....here in Northern Ontario Canada , we have a 100 acre solar farm 15 miles down road, they clear the snow with two diesel Kubota side by sides on tracks with auto brooms sticking out ..... funny to see.

never seen them in action ... near which town ?

 

[Hay Dude]

Yes, it reminds me of the smell of money. Also, there aren't too many mountains in Iowa and Nebraska last time I went through there.

I’m not really sure that matters. Ugly, foreign made windmills make just about any american open space look like puke.

 

[Hay Dude]

At least with windmills the ground can still be farmed. And the lease can help farmers be more profitable. I am ok with anything that helps farmers!

You know what help farmers need? Lower fuel & fertilizer (and any other input) costs and less stupid regulations.
THATS what farmers need.

 

[Hay Dude]

If we didn't use power to make power, there wouldn't be any power generation in the world! How much power does it take to mine coal? How much power does it take to cool the generation plants either coal or nuclear? And then how about all the power that is used in the transportation of the components that are needed for power generation? You made a non-serious statement that makes the rest of your argument seem less valid.

How much power does it take to mine all the metals needed to make batteries, windmills and solar panels? How much fuel does it take to manufacture them across the oceans, then ship them here and erect them? How about to maintain and eventually replace them?
The argument for wind & solar was/is how ”clean“ it is. Well it isn’t clean, it never has been and it never will be.
All energy generation involves using power & resources to make power. Nukes & NG are the sensible & economical answer, but there’s too many screaming teenagers and they’re weak-minded, enabling parents running the news media right now.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Yes. What I want from government is to be left alone!
Pushing through all this without looking at all aspects is insane. Everything has to be weighed out, cost/return, purpose (the total picture: if it's to lower pollution-prove it-from manufacturing, installation, maintenance, replacement of wiring, list goes on). Put similar things together, a solar farm in an industrial/commercial area makes the most sense because that's where lots of power is needed and it certainly wouldn't impact views.
Leave nature alone...plant more trees if anything.
Environmentalists are saying we need lower Earth's temperature...does acres of solar panels do that?
Ultimately who is paying for all this? Taxpayers are of course.
The grid is ok, but we're phasing out ice vehicles switching to electric so we need more power which is good for the environment?!?
I'm not against anything as long as it's well thought out and is a solution.