Dept of Interior Reaffirms Its Commitment to Fully Developing Public Land Green Energy.

[Rokbar]

Go Nuclear and don't look back. Anytime someone mentions carbon credits, net carbon zero, etc. punch them in the mouth! I would consider solar panels on the roof to HELP heat water, but not for energy. Where are the panels and batteries that go bad going to be buried.

 

[lyle_destroys]

I honestly don’t understand why they are so against nuclear energy.

 

[cuerro viejo]

What general area is this? I’m in Texas. So far online calculators show 15 years to pay for it. Don’t know if I will be interested or not.

Problem is since you are in Texas what happens when you need a new roof from hail? Or you are on coast and you have about 10 year shingle life expectancy. Can you even get roof insurance?

No body thinks about roof life, or cost to remove and re-install panels.

Then there is that big field out side of Houston that’s got trashed by hail

 

[bigeyedfish]

These solar farms generally go up near high traffic highways so as long as they fund some wildlife overpass deals I think it would net out versus fossil fuels.

I have been around the construction of a few these now, and this has not been my experience at all. I'm seeing projects 800-1,200 acres in size, and they are replacing rice fields and river bottom farm ground pretty far from any interstate highways.

I don't know anything about the oil and gas industry, so I can't comment on how the impact of solar will compare to the impact of oil rigs, but I can add what I've seen on solar farms. The solar farms I've seen go up get tilled/disked, graded, and re-seeded. This isn't ideal for wildlife, but it's not terribly different from the ag practices that were already in the area. The ground is not left bare, and often you cannot leave more than 20-50 acres open during construction. Open would be bare dirt. It's no longer "open" once it has gotten seed and straw or vegetation has started to grow. Some of this ground is so fertile that it is regrowing before you get out there to re-seed it.

My problems are with the fencing and the panels themselves. And the money. Each of the sites I've seen get a six foot chain link fence around each array, which definitely affects travel patterns and feeding opportunities. I've been at several sites in Arkansas, and on the drive there we'll see thousands of ducks in flooded fields. Then you get to the solar fields and all you see are panels and fence. At the rate we're going, this country will have an enormous footprint of these solar fields where there used to be productive hunting and farming ground, along with the money spent to develop them. Personally, I would prefer to see that money and effort go toward nuclear which is much more efficient from a power output to footprint perspective.