Blinded by Solar Panels For a Few Minutes

Reading Time: < 1 minute

There is an amusing situation. In the morning, when I sit at a table I get brilliant light shining into my eyes. As a result I wear sunglasses indoors. This might sound absurd but it's for a simple reason.

As roofs are covered with solar panels, so roofs that were once made of slate or clay have become mirrors. These mirrors, at the right time of day becoming blinding. You see this when you hike, as well.

You look at the valley below. You see the plastic tarps on fields, but you also see the sun reflecting off of solar panels towards you. It is no longer the reserve of rivers, ponds, and lakes to reflect light. Now, so do these solar panels.

Solar panels reflect light very well.

Years ago a brass chimney was replaced and for several days, until it tarnished, as the wind spun it around I would get flashes of light, as the wind angled the reflected sun in just the right direction for it to hit my eyes.

This is not just a terrestrial problem. In Space satellites have the same bad habit of reflecting light. They had to redesign the solar panels so that they would be less problematic for people to be able to observe the night sky.

In the time it took to write this blg post the sun has angled across enough for the reflection from those solar panels to be almost gone. I can remove the sun glasses soon.

#blinding #energy_ #mornings #solar

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Sunak and Solar

Detached from reality’: anger as Rishi Sunak plans to restrict solar panels.

Rishi Sunak plans to restrict the installation of solar panels on swathes of English farmland, which climate campaigners say will raise bills and put the UK’s energy security at risk.

Solar Powered Shade

Solar panels, if placed high enough can generate energy whilst at the same time providing shade for grazing sheep and cows beneath them. If you look at the surface of barns and other farm buildings it makes sense to replace the old roof, especially if it's not beautiful patterned tiles, with solar panels. There is a barn near Ikea, in Aubonne that is covered entirely in solar panels. This is probably generating quite a bit of power for the local village.

Solar Panels as Walls

At the airport in Geneva at least one building is covered entirely in solar panels. At the time I was in that building the panels were not connected. The point is that there was potential to generate power for the entire length of daylight hours.

Solar Panels on Village Roofs

When you walk or drive around you sometimes see roofs that are entirely covered in solar panels, and others where the bare legal requirement are placed. Solar panels should be maximised on non historical roofs, because they generate enough power for cookers, dish washers, laptops and more, without going to the grid for energy.

Sheep and Solar Grazing

In the article How Sheep Keep Solar Farms Out of the Shade we see an illustration of how fields that are used by sheep can be used to generate solar power and this has twin benefits. The first one is that, year round, farmers can generate solar power and feed it to the grid. This means that the fields have an income year round. Sheep sometimes cost more to keep, than they sell for. By combining sheep with solar power generation you're subsidising the sheep, with clean energy.

Instead of subsidising farmers for nothing, you can help them, by buying the energy they produce.

Biofuels and Solar

There was talk about planting crops that could then be turned into biofuel. Thanks to solar panels that are placed high enough, off the ground, to provide shade, you can cut out the middle person, and get energy straight from the producer, i.e. the sun.

If you don't need to plant fields of biofuel plants, fertilise them, and harvest them then you're saving on various forms of pollution, helping to protect the environment.

Even BP are promoting solar sheep farming.

And Finally

Sunak is from another age. He is from an age where fossil fuels were seen as a source of profit. He is a fossil. He is failing to look at the big picture. By generating green energy we reduce global warming, and by reducing global warming we reduce weather weirding, and by reducing weather weirding we reduce the cost, for insurance companies, when natural disasters cause billions of pounds in damage each year. I don't think in GBP but as I'm writing about English policy it makes sense to think in these terms.

Millions of people, in England, are heading into poverty because of how expensive fossil fuels are, in England. In such circumstances it makes sense to promote green energies.

https://blog.main-vision.com/rural-solar-panels/

#energy_ #environmental #solarPanels #solarPower