Comment on To finally bury this one anti-renewables astroturfed Reddit comment

victorz@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• paranoia@feddit.dk ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  There are many NIMBYs that are against using fields for solar, and make the suggestion of covering car parks for it instead.

  The purpose of this image is to explain the economics and design reasons for each option.

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  • victorz@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Thank you.

    Very confusing title phrasing, still.

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• Footer1998@crazypeople.online ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  the picture is correct, there’s a common post that does the rounds every now and again that says we should put solar panels over car parks instead of building dedicated solar farms, this image provides reasoning as to why dedicated solar farms are a good option, while also recognizing that solar panels over car parks also have their place

  my personal opinion on this is, new solar panels should be installed in dedicated sun-tracking solar farms, and older/recycled panels are ideal for car parks, flat roofs, etc.

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  • Telodzrum@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    It stems from people having a shit idea of how much space there is in the world, too. Yes, too much of our infrastructure is car centric, but holy fuck buddy there’s a lot of land out there that doesn’t have anything on it right now.

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  • victorz@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Makes sense. 👌🙏

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  • MalReynolds@slrpnk.net ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Ah, false dichotomy. Now I understand.

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  • inari@piefed.zip ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    This!

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• cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I think they’re saying the picture is wrong. Assuming you have the same amount of space, placing solar panels on the ground, or paving the ground and putting the solar panels on the roof of a car park, assuming also the same number of solar panels, it should generate about the same amount of energy. What do the solar panels care if they’re a few meters off the ground? Plus, the car park can lease or rent its spots and generate revenue that way as well.

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  • paranoia@feddit.dk ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    It didn’t say anywhere about generating less power. It said it is more expensive per watt, which it is.

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    • cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Okay. How so?

      I get there’s an up-front cost of building more stuff. You have the solar panels in both pictures, but the one on the left has a car park as well. I also said they can lease/rent out the spaces. Which means it’s less expensive over time as those costs pay for themselves.

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      • someguy3@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        When over a parking lot, you can’t have supports columns every few feet. So now you’re spanning with a beam, then you need bigger columns, and bigger foundations. Construction of that is also more complicated requiring concrete, cranes, etc. It all adds up.

        You could also be aggressive with the design in the field because if it tips over in a storm, who the fuck cares. You just pick it up and redo it.

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      • paranoia@feddit.dk ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        The car park itself is going to generate the same money with or without the solar. Consider that irrelevant for this discussion.

        Building the solar over the car park only really makes sense if you have absolutely nowhere else to put it. The land for solar is usually very cheap, compared to the cost of constructing a large gantry that is designed for vehicular impacts. If you need to do any repair, maintenance or replacement, you have to contend with all the cars in the carpark, or absolutely nothing in a field. You also need to do it at height (i.e., with a crane or lift), which is much more complex than just driving out with a van and doing it on the ground.

        The only instances that I would recommend doing this are:

        1. You are already building a gantry for shade.

        2. You have a green target for the development and cannot achieve it with only rooftop solar on the buildings.

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