Fighting 'Solar Farm' Installation

[Fuddyduddy1952]

In South Carolina I see commercial solar farm/factories becoming more and more abundant. Large acreages. Most people need to make money on their lands whether growing trees, farming, cows, etc. I don't harbor ill feelings on solar. But I do have feelings on esthetics. But I have other questions.

Without federal subsidies I do not see how a commercial solar factory/farm could be profitable. These companies are paying thousands of dollars per acre to the landowner to lease the land for panels each year. (More than a farmer could make farming). Those companies also pay the difference when the land is rezoned to a different commercial use. Each year panels lose some of their effeciency through age, not to mention the newer panels being produced all along are more efficient than what is already installed. There is some land degradation from panels leaching, too. I don't see how these commercial solar companies will be in business in ten or thirty years considering the costs. What happens if the company bails or goes bankrupt? What happens if your heirs don't want those panels on the family farm? To me this sounds like a pyramid scheme funded by subsidies and I wonder about the long term viability of those solar companies. Remember how to get rich quick with ostrich farming?

All things to consider. Ultimately the taxpayers pay and utility bills increase. Never a free lunch. Those who don't buy EVs still pay more for power.
Our power company charges 14c/kwh now, they will buy residential solar back, but at 3c/kwh.

 

[Hay Dude]

Hey and don’t forget about all the DEAD WHALES beaching off New Jersey from the offshore windmills sonar!
How about all the Eagles and birds killed by windmills?

Where’s all the “environmentalists” on the dead whales & birds?

Don’t care about wildlife preservation anymore???

 

[turbo36]

Its funny because we are on a tractor site and I get to bring the word Kubota into this ......AND .....for at least two months each winter when well below freezing, they need to use fossil fuels ( diesel) , to sweep each solar panel.

If I got on base 10 times every 12 attempts I'd be a superstar!

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I'm gonna do what I want on my property and I'm gonna tell you what you can do on yours too....

 

[turbo36]

Hey and don’t forget about all the DEAD WHALES beaching off New Jersey from the offshore windmills sonar!
How about all the Eagles and birds killed by windmills?

Where’s all the “environmentalists” on the dead whales & birds?

Don’t care about wildlife preservation anymore???

Actually, I hate wild life, that's why as a farmer I am happy about the fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides that I spray in my fields,,, kills a crap load of wildlife, and that is good.

Why can't you ever have a serious conversation?

 

[turbo36]

Hey and don’t forget about all the DEAD WHALES beaching off New Jersey from the offshore windmills sonar!
How about all the Eagles and birds killed by windmills?

Where’s all the “environmentalists” on the dead whales & birds?

Don’t care about wildlife preservation anymore???

Wind turbines aren't to blame for whale deaths in the US, say experts

Why do some conservationists think that wind turbines are killing whales off New York’s coast?

www.euronews.com

 

[Hay Dude]

Actually, I hate wild life, that's why as a farmer I am happy about the fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides that I spray in my fields,,, kills a crap load of wildlife, and that is good.

Why can't you ever have a serious conversation?

I don’t spray any fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides.
My conversation is VERY serious. Stop deflecting.
Why can’t you ever stop inserting your foot in your mouth?

 

[jyoutz]

you guys get lots of sun year round so if there is one place that it can work it’s there … can’t speak about the wind i don’t know enough about your area

Wind is very abundant in the winter and spring. Too abundant for my liking.

 

[turbo36]

Nope, but they’re already here, so the don’t have to “spring up out of the fields like tulips” now, do they?
You are aware coal plants can be converted to NG, right?
Or are you unaware that all this solar & windmill fantasy requires seizure of land, construction from scratch costing many billions and manufacturing and mining in foreign countries which costs many more billions and increases all our energy costs?

If you just leave the plants we have, convert them to clean NG, we wouldn’t have to spend or build 1/100th as much and we’d be energy independent and still FAR cleaner than coal-burning China.

Don’t you see how these people just guilt the US into building all this crap (manufactured by them) then turn around and burn coal in their country? Do you see what a competitive edge that gives them? Why do you think they build a new coal fired plant like 1-2 times a month there?

You won’t be talking solar panels made in China when you see that people won’t be able to afford energy in this country anymore. Poor people freezing to death might just come up as a leading cause of death in this country in the near future.

You are correct some of the coal plants can be converted to natural gas but I don't see where that can be done without any kind of energy expenditure to create the components that are needed for these conversions. Also, natural gas plants are not clean, they are cleaner than coal plants, but they still produce a massive amount of CO2.

China is building called coal fired plants because they have a lot of coal and a lot of slave labor to build and run the plants. It is not a good economic model for the United States.

Why are you so concerned about all these people that are going to freeze? We have enough social safety nets in this country to take care of all of those that don't work hard enough to find ways to heat their homes on their own. Pretty sure you can sleep at night not worrying about someone that you don't know or have never seen.

 

[jyoutz]

And they are killing us, too. It doesn’t stay within their borders.

The bigger point is while they brainwash America into spending trillions on this green energy farce, they continue to beat us 6 ways to Sunday in manufacturing.

Is the game they’re playing becoming more clear to you? They guilt us into spending 2-3X what we spend to make electricity while they use cheap, plentiful coal & gas?

We need to do what is best for our country and quit fixating on what China does. I remember the disgusting air and water pollution of the 1970s, you might be too young to remember. It’s far better today because we did what is best to clean up our country.

 

[Hay Dude]

We need to do what is best for our country and quit fixating on what China does. I remember the disgusting air and water pollution of the 1970s, you might be too young to remember. It’s far better today because we did what is best to clean up our country.

I never have or will advocate for dirty air, soil or water. Fossil fuels CAN and ARE burned cleanly.

 

[Hay Dude]

You are correct some of the coal plants can be converted to natural gas but I don't see where that can be done without any kind of energy expenditure to create the components that are needed for these conversions. Also, natural gas plants are not clean, they are cleaner than coal plants, but they still produce a massive amount of CO2.

China is building called coal fired plants because they have a lot of coal and a lot of slave labor to build and run the plants. It is not a good economic model for the United States.

Why are you so concerned about all these people that are going to freeze? We have enough social safety nets in this country to take care of all of those that don't work hard enough to find ways to heat their homes on their own. Pretty sure you can sleep at night not worrying about someone that you don't know or have never seen.

So socialism is the answer? Taxpayers pay for heat for poor people? That’s your vision?
Mine is making energy affordable for ALL people, not just rich people.

Coal plants are easily converted to NG. It‘s being done.

What you fail to understand, and it’s easy to see why-you are blinded by everything “green energy”. ”Slave Labor” has nothing to do with China burning coal. It has everything to do with making energy cheaper so they can stay competitive in industrial markets and ahead of the US. They might use slave labor to make sneakers.

Why don’t you go complain about China using coal? You think the pollution stays there?

You want to have a serious discussion? Then stop picking on the US and start taking it to China.

 

[turbo36]

I don’t spray any fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides.
My conversation is VERY serious. Stop deflecting.
Why can’t you ever stop inserting your foot in your mouth?

You are in the very tiny minority of farmers, if you look up the total number of farmed acres in the world, you will be shocked at how insignificant a farming is. Most of hay farming is for well to do horse people. It is a luxury farming, not a necessity farming.

I don’t spray any fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides.
My conversation is VERY serious. Stop deflecting.
Why can’t you ever stop inserting your foot in your mouth?

All you ever do is make baseless claims. Back up some of your talk with facts and figures and then maybe I'll take you serious. You really just like to stir the pot.

 

[Peter 315]

You are in the very tiny minority of farmers, if you look up the total number of farmed acres in the world, you will be shocked at how insignificant a farming is. Most of hay farming is for well to do horse people. It is a luxury farming, not a necessity farming.

All you ever do is make baseless claims. Back up some of your talk with facts and figures and then maybe I'll take you serious. You really just like to stir the pot.

Giddy-up...

 

[Hay Dude]

You are in the very tiny minority of farmers, if you look up the total number of farmed acres in the world, you will be shocked at how insignificant a farming is. Most of hay farming is for well to do horse people. It is a luxury farming, not a necessity farming.

All you ever do is make baseless claims. Back up some of your talk with facts and figures and then maybe I'll take you serious. You really just like to stir the pot.

You really are seriously uninformed. I mean wow. Hay feeds millions of animals around the world that produce meat and milk.
You make all your big wild claims with articles copied and pasted for one sided websites. lol
Right back at ya chief.

 

[LouNY]

You are in the very tiny minority of farmers, if you look up the total number of farmed acres in the world, you will be shocked at how insignificant a farming is. Most of hay farming is for well to do horse people. It is a luxury farming, not a necessity farming.

All you ever do is make baseless claims. Back up some of your talk with facts and figures and then maybe I'll take you serious. You really just like to stir the pot.

This is a perfect example of a baseless claim

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

We need to do what is best for our country and quit fixating on what China does. I remember the disgusting air and water pollution of the 1970s, you might be too young to remember. It’s far better today because we did what is best to clean up our country.

I think you have gotten used to it. Mountainous islands of plastic floating in the oceans. Piles of plastic in India, one of them green tingly feeling recycle programs. Heck, the recycle truck never comes by anymore. I guess it's just easier to cash the check. Top it all off, liberal county govt do not cut the ditch banks, got a big ole spray tank truck blowing out that poison from a spray head on front right corner of truck. Kills it all. Runs off in every creek. But we bees green friendly. Solar panels will be the same way. Not enough value to be feasible to recycle.

 

[jyoutz]

I think you have gotten used to it. Mountainous islands of plastic floating in the oceans. Piles of plastic in India, one of them green tingly feeling recycle programs. Heck, the recycle truck never comes by anymore. I guess it's just easier to cash the check. Top it all off, liberal county govt do not cut the ditch banks, got a big ole spray tank truck blowing out that poison from a spray head on front right corner of truck. Kills it all. Runs off in every creek. But we bees green friendly. Solar panels will be the same way. Not enough value to be feasible to recycle.

I don’t see the brown smoggy air in the cities anymore like we had in the 1970s and don’t smell it. No more rivers catching fire like back then. Nixon’s clean air and water acts worked. China can kill their people; we don’t have to copy them.

 

[jyoutz]

So socialism is the answer? Taxpayers pay for heat for poor people? That’s your vision?
Mine is making energy affordable for ALL people, not just rich people.

Coal plants are easily converted to NG. It‘s being done.

What you fail to understand, and it’s easy to see why-you are blinded by everything “green energy”. ”Slave Labor” has nothing to do with China burning coal. It has everything to do with making energy cheaper so they can stay competitive in industrial markets and ahead of the US. They might use slave labor to make sneakers.

Why don’t you go complain about China using coal? You think the pollution stays there?

You want to have a serious discussion? Then stop picking on the US and start taking it to China.

I’m being completely honest. I have lived at my current place for 18 years. During that time, the electric coop has closed two coal plants, built a new gas plant, and added many wind and solar installations. My monthly electricity bill is almost identical to my bill in 2005. They claim the renewables and gas plant are cheaper energy. I don’t understand your logic about “affordable energy.” You might not like renewables, but cost isn’t a valid argument.

 

[MossRoad]

Some are claiming land is being seized for wind and solar.

The only time I've seen land seized is for oil and natural gas pipelines through eminent domain.

I can't find any instances of land behind seized for solar or wind farms. Not saying it didn't happen, just that I can't find any instances of it so far.

As for windmills killing birds, far more die in settling ponds in coal mines and oil fields.