Energy and Environmental Technology: topic
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Redwoods vs solar panels
Pradeep Indrakanti
Monday, 10 March 2008 16:05 UTC
Here is a link to my blog posting on comparing CO2 reductions from redwood trees and solar PV panels.
“A CNN article on the conflicts between growing more trees and getting lesser sunlight for solar panels was interesting. Some bare facts:
1. Mark Vargas, who owns solar panels (an investment of 70,000 (2001 USD)) contends that his neighbour, Treanor’s redwood trees are blocking sunlight for his solar panels 2. After 6 years, a judge cites CA’s obscure sunlight availability law to rule in favor of Mark Vargas. 3. As alternate energy sources become more mainstream, many experts predict that conflicts similar to this case, will happen.”
Updated 10 March 2008 16:10 UTC
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Replies
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I heard about this story on NPR also, Pradeep. It’s a good one to think about. The ”obscure law” they were talking about deals with the solar envelope, a term that was very important to urban planners when solar energy was last in the public eye (the 1970s). You could say the term was “obscured” by the Reagan era and the return of cheap geofuels! It was designed to protect people with solar energy demands from just such a situation. You can love trees, but why plant them if you will ultimately have them cut down due to the shared solar space of your neighbors? I call this a lack of foresight from the BoBo neighbors.
Good post, thank you!
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