The down side of solar farms
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,131
I have argued here against the assumed merits of solar farms in deserts. My reasons is well supported in this article. Deserts are not dead lands. I fully believe we are losing more than we are gaining with these solar farms.
"It's a sad and beautiful world"
-Roberto Benigni
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I say this to provide some solace. Humans are a part of nature and play the role of invasive species well.
Possibly, my friend, but not sustainably.
By Sibi Arasu
RAICHUR, India (AP) — In the searing heat that often envelops Raichur, an ancient town in southern India, a ceiling fan that spins without interruption brings sweet relief for the newborn babies and their mothers at the Government Maternity Hospital.
But such respite wasn't always guaranteed in a region where frequent power cuts to India's overmatched electrical grid can last hours. It wasn't until the hospital installed rooftop solar panels a year ago that it could depend on constant electricity that keeps the lights on, patients and staff comfortable and vaccines and medicines safely refrigerated.
The diesel generator that used to provide emergency backup — spewing planet-warming gases and toxic smoke within breathing distance of newborns every time it was running — is gone. So is the need to use flashlights to see during one of the hospital's roughly 600 births per year, as staff sometimes had to do amid a sudden blackout if the old generators weren't working.
For Martha Jones, a senior nurse who has helped deliver countless babies, the reliability that solar has brought has been a revelation.
“We don't even know when power is cut or when it has come back,” Jones said.
In semi-urban and rural regions of India and other developing countries with unreliable power grids, decentralized renewable energy — especially solar — is making all the difference in delivering modern health care. And it's becoming even more indispensable where heat and weather extremes are increasing due to climate change. In Raichur, for example, temperatures can soar to 42 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit) in the warmest months.
The hospital, Government Maternity, a bare-bones facility that serves thousands who can’t afford private health care, is one of 251 medical facilities in the Raichur district that runs on rooftop solar under a program spearheaded by Selco Foundation. The Bengaluru-based not-for-profit has raised funds from Indian and international corporations and coordinated with the local government since 2017.
It costs about $8,500 to install a system at public health care centers, including lead-acid batteries that store power for use at night. Smaller clinics run closer to about $2,000. The sites remain connected to the power grid, but only as a backup to the solar.
Some of Government Maternity's patients, like 25-year-old Sandhya Shivappa, said they knew little or nothing about the hospital's use of solar power and were simply grateful for its free services.
“We would be paying 30,000 rupees ($367) if I wanted to deliver my baby at a private hospital,” said Sandhya Shivappa, a 25-year-old who had just delivered a healthy baby girl when a reporter visited.
Shifting the hospitals and clinics to clean energy helps cut emissions in a sector that accounts for about 4.4% of the global figure, according to a study by Health Care Without Harm, an international nonprofit that advocates to reduce that. And that fits broader goals in India, the world’s most populous nation and the third-largest emitter of planet-warming gases.
While India currently relies heavily on coal for its electricity, it has a target of installing 450 gigawatts of renewable energy that should account for about half its needs by the end of this decade. Rapid increase in solar, especially rooftop solar, will be necessary to meet that goal.
India has currently only installed about one-fourth of the 40 gigawatts of rooftop solar that policymakers had planned to have by last year. Supply chain issues and taxes on imported components — intended to protect domestic makers — have contributed to that shortfall. But India has also constantly reiterated the importance of getting money from developed countries and multilateral development banks to help achieve its climate goals.
Besides providing uninterrupted power, the rooftop solar is helping the medical facilities cut costs. In nearby Zaheerabad, a low-income neighborhood, Dr. Kavyashree Sugur said the public health center she oversees has paid at least 50% less for electricity in the two years since installing solar panels.
That's a big benefit in a country that is among the lowest spenders on health care in the world — India spends just a little more than 2% of its national budget on health care, compared to the United States' 18% — and many hospitals and health clinics are cash-strapped.
(AP Video/Dheeraj Aithal)
The addition of solar to health care centers in remote regions has been especially important for villagers who don't have the time or money to visit hospitals in the city, and likely would have simply gone without health care, said Hanumantappa Channadaser, Selco's branch manager in Raichur.
“Before solar, people were apprehensive to visit these hospitals because of power shortages and they didn’t have faith in the treatment they might get," Channadaser said.
Recently, Selco, the Ikea Foundation and the Indian health ministry announced that they will set up solar power for 25,000 government health care facilities across 12 Indian states by 2026. Ikea has committed $48 million to the project. Selco is also working with the International Renewable Energy Agency and World Health Organization in Africa to scale up decentralized solar for health facilities on that continent.
Shireen Fatima, who was four months pregnant and visiting the Zaheerabad health care center for a checkup, said she appreciates how “blood tests, tablets, everything is free here." The hospital's shift to solar energy is “definitely good,” she added.
"If the hospital is saving on bills, the benefits will be for us too,” she said.
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This story has corrected one of the funders of a program to bring more solar power to health care facilities to the Ikea Foundation, rather than the Ikea company.
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Follow Sibi Arasu on Twitter at @sibi123
___
Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Rooftop solar panels-- great idea!
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
You have me scratching my head on that one, L. How do you figure burning coal is better than solar panels?
A bad pun because the prior poster seemed to normalize some extinctions. And I reckon boots10 may be a fan of coal.
LOL, I'm a bit slow on the uptake these days. Well played, L!
[Right! That's where our selfish desire comes in, and it's not a biocentric perspective],
...because an Earth that is not habitable for humans is no less Earth than it is today"
What species do you know of that has (or is even capable of) wrecked havoc on the entire planet- I mean the entire planet, terra firma, oceans, the atmosphere- the whole ball of wax? We are so not like any other species, especially considering when know what we are doing and can make conscious decisions about our actions. Homo sapiens are the worst plague this planet has ever dealt with.
-Our use of complex language.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
agree. I wonder how much cooler cities might be where as much asphalt as possible is under cover such as with solar panels. You know, the heat isnt absorbed and held like now?
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Texas’s nighttime temperatures are a symptom of a new, more dangerous kind of heat wave
A brutal heat wave is expanding across Texas and the South this week, impacting millions of Americans with triple-digit temperatures and extreme humidity that is cranking up the heat index, making it feel hotter than 110 degrees in some of the region’s most populous cities.
But forecasters are warning that there is a more dangerous aspect to this heat wave, and one that is becoming more common because of the climate crisis: overnight temperatures are not cooling down enough, offering little reprieve from the oppressive heat — particularly for people who don’t have access to air conditioning.
The National Weather Service highlighted the insidious nature of this week’s heat wave in a statement on Monday, when forecasters at the Weather Prediction Center noted “there may be more danger than a typical heat event, due to the longevity of near-record or record high nighttime lows and elevated heat index readings.”
Overnight temperature records are expected to far outpace daytime records this week. Around 90 afternoon high-temperature records could be broken across the South, from Texas to the Mississippi Valley and parts of Florida, according to data from the National Weather Service.
But overnight temperatures will also stay abnormally high, with potentially 180 nighttime records broken over the next seven days.
Hotter nights are a consequence of the climate crisis, scientists have warned. On average, nights are warming faster than days in most of the US, according to the 2018 National Climate Assessment.
“We think it’s because as the days grow warmer, there is more moisture in the air that traps the heat,” Lisa Patel, the executive director of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, told CNN. “During the day, that moisture reflects the heat, but at night, it traps the heat in.”
Increasing nighttime heat is even more common in cities because of the urban heat island effect, in which metro areas are significantly hotter than their surroundings.
Dallas, for example, is set to go six consecutive days without seeing temperatures drop below 80 degrees Fahrenheit overnight — a June record for the city.
Areas with a lot of asphalt, concrete, buildings and freeways absorb more of the sun’s heat than areas with parks, rivers and tree-lined streets. At night, when temperatures are supposed to cool down, the retained heat is released back into the air, said Kristie Ebi, a climate and health expert at the University of Washington.
Areas with a lot of green space – with grass and trees that reflect sunlight and create shade – are cooler on summer’s hottest days.
“Many cities put together cooling shelters, but people have to know where they are, how to get to them and what hours they operate,” Ebi told CNN, noting that city officials need to rethink urban planning to consider climate change.
“It’s going to take a while for trees to grow, but we need tree planting programs focusing on places that are particularly vulnerable — making sure that city planning takes into account that we’re heading into a much warmer future.”
Houston has had nine days far this month that haven’t dropped below 80 degrees — nearly double what’s typical for June. This has only happened two other times in the city’s records.
Nighttime should be when our bodies are given a break from the heat, Patel said. But with climate change, that’s becoming less likely to happen. A recent study found that heat-related deaths could increase six-fold by the end of the century due to warmer nighttime temperatures, unless planet-warming pollution is significantly curbed.
Researchers have also warned the climate crisis is already affecting people’s ability to sleep. A study published last month found that people living in warmer climates lose more sleep for each degree of temperature increase.
“We all know what it’s like to try to fall asleep on a hot night — it’s uncomfortable,” Patel said. “We often lose sleep. It is estimated that by the end of the century, we could lose about two days of sleep per year, and it will be worse for people without access to air conditioning.”
Patel explains that at its most extreme, when a human body does not get the chance to recover — typically at night — heat stress can progress to heat stroke, which is associated with confusion, dizziness and passing out.
And while this can happen to anyone, she said the impacts are more amplified on the elderly, people with chronic underlying health conditions, and young children, particularly infants. Heat waves that go on for several days tend to be associated with more deaths as the body can no longer keep itself cool.
“Living through a heat wave during the day can be like running a race,” Patel said. “We need a cool break to recover and recuperate, and when nighttime temperatures don’t drop, we don’t get that critical time we need to relieve the stress on our bodies from being overheated during the day.”
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Back in 2015, California's dry earth was crunching under a fourth year of drought. Then-Governor Jerry Brown ordered an unprecedented 25% reduction in home water use. Farmers, who use the most water, volunteered too to avoid deeper, mandatory cuts.
Brown also set a goal for the state to get half its energy from renewable sources, with climate change bearing down.
Yet when Jordan Harris and Robin Raj went knocking on doors with an idea that addresses both water loss and climate pollution — installing solar panels over irrigation canals — they couldn't get anyone to commit.
Fast forward eight years. With devastating heat, record-breaking wildfire, looming crisis on the Colorado River, a growing commitment to fighting climate change, and a little bit of movement-building, their company Solar AquaGrid and partners are preparing to break ground on the first solar-covered canal project in the United States.
“All of these coming together at this moment," Harris said. “Is there a more pressing issue that we could apply our time to?"
CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT
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The idea is simple: install solar panels over canals in sunny, water-scarce regions where they reduce evaporation and make electricity.
A study by the University of California, Merced gives a boost to the idea, estimating that 63 billion gallons of water could be saved by covering California's 4,000 miles of canals. Researchers believe that much installed solar would also generate a significant amount of electricity.
But that's an estimate — neither it, nor other potential benefits have been tested scientifically. That's about to change with Project Nexus in California's Central Valley.
BUILDING MOMENTUM
Solar on canals has long been discussed as a two-for-one solution in California, where affordable land for energy development is as scarce as water. But the grand idea was still a hypothetical.
Harris, a former record label executive, co-founded “Rock the Vote,” the voter registration push in the early 1990s, and Raj organized socially responsible and sustainability campaigns for businesses. They knew that people needed a nudge - ideally one from a trusted source.
They thought research from a reputable institution might do the trick, and got funding for UC Merced to study the impact of solar-covered-canals in California.
The study's results have taken off.
They reached Governor Gavin Newsom, who called Wade Crowfoot, his secretary of natural resources.
“Let's get this in the ground and see what's possible,” Crowfoot recalled the governor saying.
Around the same time, the Turlock Irrigation District, an entity that also provides power, reached out to UC Merced. It was looking to build a solar project to comply with the state's increased goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045. But land was very expensive, so building atop existing infrastructure was appealing. Then there was the prospect that shade from panels might reduce weeds growing in the canals — a problem that costs this utility $1 million annually.
“Until this UC Merced paper came out, we never really saw what those co-benefits would be,” said Josh Weimer, external affairs manager for the district. "If somebody was going to pilot this concept, we wanted to make sure it was us.”
The state committed $20 million in public funds, turning the pilot into a three-party collaboration among the private, public and academic sectors. About 1.6 miles (2.6 kilometers) of canals between 20 and 110 feet wide will be covered with solar panels between five and 15 feet off the ground.
The UC Merced team will study impacts ranging from evaporation to water quality, said Brandi McKuin, lead researcher on the study.
“We need to get to the heart of those questions before we make any recommendations about how to do this more widely,” she said.
LESSONS LEARNED ABROAD
California isn't first with this technology. India pioneered it on one of the largest irrigation projects in the world. The Sardar Sarovar dam and canal project brings water to hundreds of thousands of villages in the dry, arid regions of western India’s Gujarat state.
Then-chief minister of Gujarat state, Narendra Modi, now the country’s prime minister, inaugurated it in 2012 with much fanfare. Sun Edison, the engineering firm, promised 19,000 km (11,800 miles) of solar canals. But only a handful of smaller projects have gone up since. The firm filed for bankruptcy.
“The capital costs are really high, and maintenance is an issue,” said Jaydip Parmar an engineer in Gujarat who oversees several small solar canal projects.
With ample arid land, ground-based solar makes more sense there economically, he said.
Clunky design is another reason the technology hasn’t been widely adopted in India. The panels in Gujarat’s pilot project sit directly over the canal, limiting access for maintenance and emergency crews.
Back in California, Harris took note of India's experience, and began a search for a better solution. The project there will use better materials and sit higher.
NEXT STEPS
Project Nexus may not be alone for long. The Gila River Indian Community received funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to install solar on their canals in an effort to save water to ease stress on the Colorado River. And one of Arizona's largest water and power utilities, the Salt River Project, is studying the technology alongside Arizona State University.
Still, rapid change isn’t exactly embraced in the world of water infrastructure, said Representative Jared Huffman, D-Calif.
“It’s an ossified bastion of stodgy old engineers,” he said.
Huffman has been talking up the technology for almost a decade, and said he finds folks are still far more interested in building taller dams than what he says is a much more sensible idea.
He pushed a $25 million provision through last year's Inflation Reduction Act to fund a pilot project for the Bureau of Reclamation. Project sites for that one are currently being evaluated.
And a group of more than 100 climate advocacy groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity and Greenpeace, have now sent a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Bureau Commissioner Camille Touton urging them “to accelerate the widespread deployment of solar photovoltaic energy systems" above the Bureau’s canals and aqueducts. Covering all 8,000 miles of Bureau-owned canals and aqueducts could “generate over 25 gigawatts of renewable energy — enough to power nearly 20 million homes — and reduce water evaporation by tens of billions of gallons.”
Covering every canal would be ideal, Huffman said, but starting with the California Aqueduct and the Delta Mendota canal, "it’s a really compelling case," he said. "And it's about time that we started doing this.”
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This story was first published on July 20, 2023 and was updated on July 21, 2023 to correct the erroneous statement that panels over California’s canals could provide 13 gigawatts of power, enough to supply the city of Los Angeles from January through October. The proper term of measurement would have been gigawatt-hours rather than gigawatts, but additionally, researchers now say the total amount of energy that would be generated has not yet been scientifically estimated.
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Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India.
___ The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Please enjoy this inspirational video from the spaceman drummer tour.
https://youtu.be/LcMvhv1rIJw