It looks like responsible solar farming does not have a one-size-fits-all solution. Much more research needs to be done on reducing the damage from solar farming. Still, despite drawbacks, the research shows that over time, solar panels prove much more sustainable than fossil fuel burning energies and a leader in sustainable energy. Case in point: After about 2 years, Photovoltaic Panels (or PVP, the common kind that look like blue windows) have offset the harm done to the environment from making them. Solar technology continues to cost less money and environmental harm as it advances. “Solar energy falls on the surface of the earth at a rate of 120 petawatts, (1 petawatt = 1015 watt). This means all the solar energy received from the sun in one days can satisfie [sic] the whole world’s demand for more than 20 years.“ At this point, rather than a single best method, i think we should choose from the myriad of solar farming methods what works best for each area.
I see two basic options for solar farming locations: deserted and urbanized. Each come with certain environmental considerations. Most cities aren’t built in locations of constant sunshine, (yeah, i am looking at you, Seattle) so they will pick up less energy from the sun and that means more panels will have to be made and their production involves harmful chemicals, transportation, production, and mining. On the other hand, building in remote areas destroys and occupies natural habitat and causes more environmental harm than in human developed land, infrastructure to and from must be made and maintained, energy is lost in the long pipeline to where it is used.
Production Problem:
Producing Photovoltaic Panels (PVP, the common kind that look like blue windows) involves toxic chlorides and other dangerous chemicals. Workers risks exposure to toxic chemicals as they manufacture and dispose of PVP and the chemicals can harm the environment. The metals and quartz crystals for PVPs must be mined which means habitat destruction. The materials also cost a lot of energy to heat and fuse them together.
Production Solutions:
Take precautions and use sustainable energy to produce them.
Disposal Problems:
Many PVPs and, most likely, other solar panel technology are thrown into landfills where they can leak toxins into the ground especially if the panels are damaged. Currently, the complicated recycling process costs more than it earns back for most organizations. Many of the original solar panels are hitting their 25 year efficiency expiration date, so their companies are throwing them in landfills. In Europe, recycling is incentivized by the government, so organizations created programs for it. Throwing PVPs away depletes the stock of rare tellurium, which could cause production problems later on.
Disposal Solutions:
Set up plants to efficiently recycle old solar panels. Support companies that recycle old panels. Put them in places where they will last a full lifespan.
Lifespan Problem:
Concentrated solar power (CSP, the kind that reflects sunlight at a tower) plants are estimated to last over 30 years and photovoltaic panels lose significant efficiency after about the same amount of time.
Lifespan Solutions:
Recycle as much as is feasible to build more CSP and PVP plants.
Environmental Problems:
Solar plants, like all human structures i know of, take up space in an environment. Structures may block the natural movements like streams or tortoises. The plants often reroute or use significant amounts of water especially when they use water to clean PVP. Wet cooling in CSP plants use from 500 to 900 gallons of water per megawatt hour (MWh). The farms emit and reflect more light than the natural land around them and can significantly raise the surrounding temperature. This attracts certain animals like bugs and birds. The light focusing mirrors of CSP plants can reach 560 degrees F. That searing beam of highly focused light can explode passing flying animals. In desert locations, vegetation grows sparsely and slowly so the loss of each plant hits the dependent organisms around solar plants much harder than in rainier ecosystems; in the same way shoplifting one outfit from a Georgio Armani store hits their profits much harder than shoplifting one outfit from an Old Navy store. The human activity in remote desert regions coupled with the flammable invasive plants can do serious harm to these ecosystems ill-adapted to fire. Solar plants take up not only their own plot, but also require roads and power lines connecting them to other human infrastructure. PVPs collect dust in their disturbed grounds and that reduces their efficiency.
Environmental Solutions:
Satellites that beam the sun’s energy to antenas on earth as microwaves or lasers, generally called Space-Based Solar Power, would be an amazing solution because there aren’t clouds or atmospheric interference in space and there is plenty of space in space and no (known) life forms losing habitat to the satellites or any pollution other than those from their production and launch and disposal. The technology still needs to be developed and the price tag lowered for this Isaac Asimov fiction to happen in real life though.
For water birds, putting markings on the panels could be enough to keep them from being mistaken for ponds. To protect flying animals, solar plants can dim the lights and replace the bright floodlights with LEDs. They can emit grape juice concentrate, a nonlethal deterrent method borrowed from farmers. They can place anti-perching spikes on the towers. Recordings of birds in distress or avian predators (called bio-acoustic deterrent), can scare birds off but must be changed up regularly or the birds will habituate to it. CSP plants can shut down the plant during peak migration seasons.
To avoid excessively depleting a habitat of water, solar plants can use chemical cleaning. Chemical cleaning can be harmful if animals enter the pooled chemical water. It must be protected and stored so that it does not leak into the ground water. Natural, non-harmful cleaning products would be best. Chemical cleaning also costs more. With these disadvantages in mind, chemical cleaning should only be used in habitats that would fare very poorly without their usual amount of water. Ultrasonic cleaning could also save water by shooting high frequency sounds through a liquid to shake off debris coating PVPs. Ali Hamoud Alshehri and Brian Parrott suggest that installed robotic systems (robots attached to the panels), mechanized systems (human operated complex machines), and installed hydraulic systems (basically sprinklers) are the leading methods when considering cost, labor, risk of damaging the system, and water use.
To save energy being lost in transit to its users or when not needed in a gridless power line, CSP plants can store energy as heat or in a battery as the need arises.
Fires can be prevented by clearing brush around the electrical equipment and lines though this makes the hot reflection problem worse.
Plots for solar farming should be checked and chosen carefully to minimize harm to endangered species. If species are later found, they can be relocated, though that often has adverse effects. The location of power plants should consider proximity to workers and to the power grid. Longer distances means more land cleared for line, more materials used for the line, and more energy lost along the line as well as the spread out risk of fire. Already cleared land, such as transportation corridors, abandoned mines and quarries, as well as rooftops could work well in more urbanized spaces if the local climate proves sufficiently sunny and warm. Also landfills, and toxic sites, and farmland. Because they are built in sunny places, multiple studies have found farmland an excellent locale for PVP solar farming. Because plants use more water in brighter, longer, hotter exposure to sunlight, having shade from the solar panels saves on water. Farmers can also lease land out for solar farming that they aren’t using for crops since not all crops can handle partial shade.
Pollution Problems:
Plant workers clean PVP with chemicals that run off into the groundwater and surrounding lands. Also inside the plants pools with harmful chemicals attract and hurt animals.
Possible solutions:
Several methods for cleaning PVPs exist, at this point, i can’t say which is definitively better. Some solar plants use hand tools, ultrasonic (shooting high frequency sound waves through cleaning liquid), and even drones wielding microfiber cloth. Basic considerations should be: Use toxin free water in certain locations with a decently steady waterflow and research on its downstream dependents. Cleaning chemicals should be ecofriendly or at least carefully contained and covered from animals.
Want to help more? Invent a more efficient battery or system to store solar energy when it is not needed. Research or design better solar harvesting technology or support someone who does. Notice and give observant feedback on solar panels around you and their environmental impact.
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Photo by © Alexey Novikov - Dreamstime.com
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