I was fine when they came for my coal.
I was fine when they came for my oil.
I was fine when they came for my natural gas.
I was fine when they came for my intensive factory farmed meat.
But then they came for my stinky cheese. This is war.
I remember the estimate from a few years ago that you would only need an area of 100 Km by 100 Km (10,000 square kilometres) of solar PVs to satisfy the electrical needs of the US. There’s no source for that land use diagram but I found a rough estimate of 2 million acres used for golf courses in the US. That converts to a bit over 8000 square kilometres so you’d need a bit more than the tiny of golf courses shown to cover the US electricity needs. Then I looked at the large red patch of urban commercial. How much of that is composed of large flat roofs? It looks like there’s plenty of land set aside that can be used for solar to satisfy the US’s needs. Even after accounting for electrifying everything and the fact that two thirds of that area is probably parking (which could be used but is more expensive than just sticking PV’s on roofs).
Finally found an article that mentions the increased cost of commercial parking lot solar to commercial rooftop solar:
“”A carport is roughly 40% more expensive compared to a ground mount system,” said Tim Powers, a research and policy associate for Inovateus Solar, the company that built Michigan State’s system. It costs more because of extra materials (it takes taller, stronger structures to get solar panels that far off the ground), extra labor (it takes longer to build) and extra engineering costs, he said.”
I was fine when they came for my coal.
I was fine when they came for my oil.
I was fine when they came for my natural gas.
I was fine when they came for my intensive factory farmed meat.
But then they came for my stinky cheese. This is war.
I would feel like that, but this is saying we can have our cheese, but it will be easier and cheaper to make it
As long as I can still get my stinky cheese, I’ll be happy.
Yep, me too! 🙂
I remember the estimate from a few years ago that you would only need an area of 100 Km by 100 Km (10,000 square kilometres) of solar PVs to satisfy the electrical needs of the US. There’s no source for that land use diagram but I found a rough estimate of 2 million acres used for golf courses in the US. That converts to a bit over 8000 square kilometres so you’d need a bit more than the tiny of golf courses shown to cover the US electricity needs. Then I looked at the large red patch of urban commercial. How much of that is composed of large flat roofs? It looks like there’s plenty of land set aside that can be used for solar to satisfy the US’s needs. Even after accounting for electrifying everything and the fact that two thirds of that area is probably parking (which could be used but is more expensive than just sticking PV’s on roofs).
Finally found an article that mentions the increased cost of commercial parking lot solar to commercial rooftop solar:
“”A carport is roughly 40% more expensive compared to a ground mount system,” said Tim Powers, a research and policy associate for Inovateus Solar, the company that built Michigan State’s system. It costs more because of extra materials (it takes taller, stronger structures to get solar panels that far off the ground), extra labor (it takes longer to build) and extra engineering costs, he said.”
https://www.cnet.com/home/energy-and-utilities/solar-parking-lots-are-a-win-win-energy-idea-why-arent-they-the-norm/