stux⚡🙌
Gary Parker 
Graham Sutherland / Polynomial@stux @WiteWulf I was reading recently that since solar fields don't have any specific requirements around grazing or nitrogen fixation, they've started planting wildflowers and brushes, which are massively beneficial for insect populations and downstream ecosystems like birds. they described grass fields as a graveyard by comparison.
yelling jackal@gsuberland @stux @WiteWulf also the car park thing in lower quantity wouldn't be bad on fields with animals, either. You wouldn't know it from most of the farmland in the Netherlands, but livestock do actually need shade.
cwicseolfor@len @gsuberland @WiteWulf @stux Elsewhere in the replies are two stories that mention using them in a barred pattern for sheep and for goats in conjunction with beehives. But absolutely any animals would be happier with intermittent shade and the lush graze that tends to bring than with a totally open, unshaded field - people in Europe and North America don’t realize how rare that once was and would be again without human intervention in most of the places they live and farm!
Jo@cwicseolfor @len @gsuberland @WiteWulf @stux honey bees hate electrical equipment. Thats how you collect venom, getting them to try to sting electric wires
BashStKid@Beedazzled @cwicseolfor @len @gsuberland @WiteWulf @stux That’s an interesting point. I would guess they don’t like magnetic fields, if so then solar panels being dc (until you get to the inverter) there shouldn’t be any. Probably worth testing if bees object to a static charge such as a battery?
@BashStKid @Beedazzled This sounds plausible to me also, based on my experience with our (invasive non-native) fire ants and electrical equipment. It's definitely good to consider the impact of additional intrusions on other species, but since beekeeping under agrivoltaics is already working (in so, SO many places) there must be a reason why! It'd also be worth finding out whether it's disruptive to other native insects and not just our "pet" honeybee species.
@len @gsuberland @WiteWulf @stux
@len @gsuberland @WiteWulf @stux
@BashStKid @cwicseolfor @len @gsuberland @WiteWulf @stux there is research showing overhead powerline affect navigation.
I carry my phone in a breast pocket and, if they are feeling ratty, they go mad trying to sting it
I carry my phone in a breast pocket and, if they are feeling ratty, they go mad trying to sting it
@Beedazzled Powerlines are "loud" given sheer voltage, but they aren't known for massing on them that I know of, so the DC vs. AC theory (and then of course all the other types of radio noise machinery can make) may have legs.
Shy of a dozen links, I found an article listing projects all over EU and North America - https://fresh-energy.org/solar-beekeeping-goes-global
Maybe you even know someone connected to one of the UK projects who'd know more, e.g. via any forums you're in?
@BashStKid @len @gsuberland @WiteWulf @stux
Global buzz for solar with pollinators and beekeeping - Fresh Energy
Dual-use solar is buzzing across the globe. Thanks to the education and outreach work of groups around the world—including the Center for Pollinators in Energy at Fresh Energy—global energy companies are actively moving forward with plans to combine solar energy with additional land uses and community benefits.
@cwicseolfor @BashStKid @len @gsuberland @WiteWulf @stux the only person I know with an apiary beside PV instalation is us, but we are beside it not under it and its not huge. The apiary was there first then the PV appeared
@cwicseolfor @BashStKid @len @gsuberland @WiteWulf @stux
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2373396-electromagnetic-fields-from-power-lines-are-messing-with-honeybees/#:~:text=A%20growing%20body%20of%20research%20has%20already,enough%20foragers%20to%20survive%20in%20some%20cases.&text=%E2%80%9CThe%20bees%20were%20avoiding%20the%20flowers%20that,proximity%20of%20the%20overhead%20lines%2C%E2%80%9D%20says%20Ballesteros.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2373396-electromagnetic-fields-from-power-lines-are-messing-with-honeybees/#:~:text=A%20growing%20body%20of%20research%20has%20already,enough%20foragers%20to%20survive%20in%20some%20cases.&text=%E2%80%9CThe%20bees%20were%20avoiding%20the%20flowers%20that,proximity%20of%20the%20overhead%20lines%2C%E2%80%9D%20says%20Ballesteros.
@Beedazzled @BashStKid @cwicseolfor @len @gsuberland @stux interesting, our hives at work are near to a huge industrial testing facility for jet engines, and they’re known for being really angry all the time. I wonder if that’s to do with EM radiation? The estates staff who look after them swear at them 😀
@Beedazzled @cwicseolfor @len @gsuberland @WiteWulf @stux Overhead lines are probably the highest electrical field gradient most people ever come across. I can believe that an ac 275-400 kV would annoy something sensitive.
That’s a far cry from the low-voltage dc in panels, but the best thing is to do some experiments to be sure any correlation is definitely what you think it is. It’s depressingly easy to be convinced by your own theory.
That’s a far cry from the low-voltage dc in panels, but the best thing is to do some experiments to be sure any correlation is definitely what you think it is. It’s depressingly easy to be convinced by your own theory.
@BashStKid @cwicseolfor @len @gsuberland @WiteWulf @stux
I know 100% that bees don't like mobile phones or thunderstorms. As to pv, i would say its something to be looked into. I don't have a theory, I have a concern
I know 100% that bees don't like mobile phones or thunderstorms. As to pv, i would say its something to be looked into. I don't have a theory, I have a concern