Thousands of acres of crop land getting turned into solar farms across the Midwest

[Rifleman86]

Yup, it isn't a one size fits all sort of a thing.

I have a buddy in IA that I deer hunt with every few years. We drive from the middle of the state to one of the corners to hunt, and he knows where deer (and big deer) tend to come from all along the way. He points out large sections of the area we drive through that hold very few deer because all the timber has been cleared. Seasonally food is really abundant, but when the corn is cut there is just no place for a deer to go for miles in every direction.

CA's central valley is a great example. I don't think most folks have a sense of its size. There are not very many mammals larger than a coyote that live in an area that is ~475 miles long and 40-60 miles wide. That is close to the size of the state of West Virginia.

We certainly screwed the pooch in that regard.

But that said, the subsidies that are building these solar farms would be better put to use in CRP to bring some of that edge habitat back than building a giant solar farm. Dollar for dollar it would probably be better at reducing carbon too, if you are believer in that sort of thing.

 

[Newtosavage]

Quit being obtuse.

We’re never taking the Midwest back to the habitat it was prior to development/western expansion. That ship sailed. We all know it.

But crop land is very much still habitat for a large variety of critters. Solar fields aren’t, and never will be.

Bold statement. Not one you can prove, but bold nonetheless.

What's funny to me is those here who act like they are concerned about wildlife habitat but then turn around and criticize those who are concerned about actual wildlife habitat. LOL

 

[southLA]

I’m not sure what the problem is. We need electricity for your houses and cars. You can just get groceries from the grocery store?

 

[roadrunner]

That's good actually. Maybe then people will finally see the stupidity in it when cupboards are bare...

 

[Ol’ Cheebs]

…it ain’t just the Midwest.

 

[Rifleman86]

Bold statement. Not one you can prove, but bold nonetheless.

What's funny to me is those here who act like they are concerned about wildlife habitat but then turn around and criticize those who are concerned about actual wildlife habitat. LOL

That’s about the most smug, arrogant, and self centered thing I’ve read in a long time.

I’m watching hundreds of acres of fields get bulldozed that were full of whitetails and turkeys every spring and fall, to be replaced with solar panels, and you have the gall to spin around and tell me, “It’s for your own good… Oh and I forgot to mention, I’m the one who actually cares about wildlife.”

 

[11boo]

I would like to know the true net gains from wind and solar.

They no doubt pump many KW into the grid, when it is sunny and windy.

The real power plants, coal/gas/nuke just keep humming along 24/7. They do not shut down, just slow down a bit when enough green energy is present.

 

[journeyman713]

Before...

After...

 

[Rifleman86]

Before...
View attachment 521356
After...
View attachment 521357

It takes an incredible amount of cognitive dissonance to defend that as “good for wildlife.”

 

[Andrew12gauge]

Don’t worry, it’s only going to take a land mass the size of Texas to power our grid with wind and solar


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[derrick454@]

We are screwed as a country and storm's a comin'.


Eddie

Yep


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[HuntHarder]

Don’t worry, it’s only going to take a land mass the size of Texas to power our grid with wind and solar


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Musk says 100 mile by 100 mile would do it. Not sure on actual truth to that, but that is one smart man.

 

[ozyclint]

I would like to know the true net gains from wind and solar.

They no doubt pump many KW into the grid, when it is sunny and windy.

The real power plants, coal/gas/nuke just keep humming along 24/7. They do not shut down, just slow down a bit when enough green energy is present.

I wanted to ask, have you guys in USA solved the problem of huge amounts of solar energy through the day that is in excess of demand and then having no solar energy at night at times of peak demand?

We haven't here in Australia either.

It was just last week that word got out about intentions to tax exports to the grid for grid feed solar systems on peoples homes. Instead of building infrastructure to be able to store the solar energy produced during the day for use at night they tax people to make money and discourage people to export their solar power as a means to reduce the glut of daytime power that can't all be used.

I saw this coming 15 years ago when Govt offered rebates to people to install grid feed solar systems on the roof. Offer a carrot, get them to build public works with private money then tax them.

 

[HuntHarder]

I wanted to ask, have you guys in USA solved the problem of huge amounts of solar energy through the day that is in excess of demand and then having no solar energy at night at times of peak demand?

We haven't here in Australia either.

It was just last week that word got out about intentions to tax exports to the grid for grid feed solar systems on peoples homes. Instead of building infrastructure to be able to store the solar energy produced during the day for use at night they tax people to make money and discourage people to export their solar power as a means to reduce the glut of daytime power that can't all be used.

I saw this coming 15 years ago when Govt offered rebates to people to install grid feed solar systems on the roof. Offer a carrot, get them to build public works with private money then tax them.

Solved? Absolutely not, starting to figure out large scale battery storage? Starting to. There are states that produce excess electricity and have to pay other states to take their excess. This mainly to keep up with peak load, as well as meet their renewable mandates imposed. It is quite complicated on the grid right now.

 

[MattB]

I wanted to ask, have you guys in USA solved the problem of huge amounts of solar energy through the day that is in excess of demand and then having no solar energy at night at times of peak demand?

We haven't here in Australia either.

It was just last week that word got out about intentions to tax exports to the grid for grid feed solar systems on peoples homes. Instead of building infrastructure to be able to store the solar energy produced during the day for use at night they tax people to make money and discourage people to export their solar power as a means to reduce the glut of daytime power that can't all be used.

I saw this coming 15 years ago when Govt offered rebates to people to install grid feed solar systems on the roof. Offer a carrot, get them to build public works with private money then tax them.

We haven’t solved the problem, but there are number of ways to store energy generated by solar to be used for nice the sun goes down. It will be interesting to see how cost-effective these end up being. To me that is critical.

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[Broomd]

Someone compare the energy output of a coal mine per acre to the energy output of a solar farm per acre.

Yeah, and do it on a cloudy Dec. 21st day. Or any of the 365 nights of the year.
Coal isn't the ideal solution, but clean burning coal tech certainly should remain in the tool box of options.

Our country is in deep peril with these eco-lunatics. The thread doesn't even touch on the $2 billion in U.S. farmland China has recently acquired, much of it near military installations.

 

[cuerro viejo]

Cropland is also not great for wildlife to be honest. Yes, it does provide food, but massive crop monoculture causes a lot of environmental issues too.

Again, not to the same degree, but its it's there.

Everything we do as humans effects the environment. I'd love if we could re-wild most of America but that's not going to happen as long as people rely on food and energy and resources that have to come from somewhere.

high fenced now with razor wire, that use to be solid trees, thats not a lake in background. Use to support 1 deer per 12 acres. now zero

 

[11boo]

I wanted to ask, have you guys in USA solved the problem of huge amounts of solar energy through the day that is in excess of demand and then having no solar energy at night at times of peak demand?

We haven't here in Australia either.

It was just last week that word got out about intentions to tax exports to the grid for grid feed solar systems on peoples homes. Instead of building infrastructure to be able to store the solar energy produced during the day for use at night they tax people to make money and discourage people to export their solar power as a means to reduce the glut of daytime power that can't all be used.

I saw this coming 15 years ago when Govt offered rebates to people to install grid feed solar systems on the roof. Offer a carrot, get them to build public works with private money then tax them.

Interesting. Don’t tell Biden , he can tax us harder.

I’m an electrician and have done a lot of solar and battery projects in remote places. Metering and controlling of nat gas wells and pipelines.

There will have to be a huge advance in battery tech to work on a large scale.
I was using 4 big deep cycle batteries and 400 watts of solar just to provide 24 hour power to a well pad.

There are ideas to pump water up to elevated reservoirs during the day using excess electricity, then empty the reservoir overnight, generating hydro power.

Truth is, we don’t have much “Excess electricity“.

Someday, they will figure it out, but more people = more needs.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Most of the damn components and lots of panels all come from the Chi-Coms too… this whole “green deal” is just a Ponzi scheme to enrich political elite and those connected in finance world that benefit from the whole subsidized load of crap. If we wanted cheap clean reliable energy we should go nuclear, wind farms and solar are a blight on the landscape

 

[Beendare]

Its the new strip mine….

Its a farce to think renewables are the whole solution…folks need to do the math.

I saw a calculation of the batteries it would take to store 6 hours of US power consumption. It would take a thousand years of 24hr production from the largest battery factory in the world…and billions of tons of mining for the minerals needed.