Michigan to clear 400+ acres of state forest for solar farm to meet "clean energy" goals

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• Telodzrum@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  For anyone interested, Michigan has well over 21 million acres of forest.

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  • prenatal_confusion@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    But how much free land does it have? It is not that much Forrest to cut down but why bother? The sun will generate the same power to miles to the west and this is surely not the only location they can use.

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    • Telodzrum@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      That is the free land.

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  • Kaboom@reddthat.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Still doesn’t make it environmentally friendly

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• Mikina@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  I’d love to see the math behing how much power cpuld be generated from the 400 acres of wood, and how long will it take for the solars to break even.

  Also, how much co2 is saved by the solars in comparison to what the trees would generate.

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  • WhatYouNeed@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Back of napkin math…

    Panels per acre - Realistic setup: 1,500 panels, 20x20 ft

    Power output - 0 25 MW per acre with 2022 technology 400 acres x 0.25 = 100 MW

    CO2 absorbing - approx 3 tons/yr per acre 400 acres x 3 = 1,200 tons/yr

    1 acre of forest burnt releases approx 7,200 tons of CO2 (normal climate, tree and undergrowth density)

    400 acre x 7,200 = 2.88 million tons CO2 released.

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