emanuel tschopp
Tim Kelloggthis is incredible. Hanging solar panels a few meters above crops of tomatoes and jalapeños multiplied their yield 2-3x, used substantially less water, controlled temperatures, and increased the output of the solar panels https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2301355120 #science #solar #environment #agriculture
they mention reducing evaporation off lakes and ponds in hot arid climates by covering them partially with solar panels. seems like cities could also use solar panels to reduce heat diffusion, maybe even make it cheaper to cool
if you find this interesting, you may enjoy reading Into the Cool, a book all about non-equilibrium thermodynamics and it’s relation to climate change (and what to do about it) https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/52737
sandywb14@kellogh Thanks for the recommendation. I just ordered it. I may not understand its technicalities, but it looks interesting.
@Sandywb it’s pop sci, so it’s supposed to be accessible. if you were in the domain you’d probably hate it 🙂
Aatish Bhatia@kellogh wow that book sits surprisingly in the Venn diagram intersection of my interests. thanks for sharing!
Andrew@kellogh my favorite part of that is the name: floatovoltaics
@cinebox i bet someone got promoted to CNO (chief naming officer)
Graydon@kellogh The tax rate on a parking lot that hasn't got solar panels over it should be thereabouts of a thousand dollars per square meter per month.
Giliell@kellogh
Solar panels will passively cool your home as they do take energy that would have been heat and turn it into electricity. If I ruled the world I would mandate all supermarket car parks to be covered with solar panels.
Solar panels will passively cool your home as they do take energy that would have been heat and turn it into electricity. If I ruled the world I would mandate all supermarket car parks to be covered with solar panels.
Elias Probst@Giliell at least France and the German state of #BadenWürttemberg made it mandatory to cover car parks of a certain minimum size with solar panels…
Linza@kellogh Sort of. In the case of sealed surfaces and concrete features, definitely yes. If the choice is between planting a tree and putting up an equal area of solar panels, plant the tree.
Momo@kellogh
I remember the water crisis of capetown where they tried to reduce evaporation by covering their water reservoirs with black rubber balls. Using solar panels instead is a win-win in that case. I mean let's be honest, climate change will escalate this in the next years and not only in africa.
I remember the water crisis of capetown where they tried to reduce evaporation by covering their water reservoirs with black rubber balls. Using solar panels instead is a win-win in that case. I mean let's be honest, climate change will escalate this in the next years and not only in africa.
C.W. Smith 🇺🇲I honestly think everyone would benifit if we just covered all the massive parking lots this way.
The business gets power and maybe excess it can work with, and customers get covered parking for protection from weather.
Why Not Zoidberg? 🦑@kellogh interesting. l assume they have taken in account that life in the water need sun and oxygen from the air to survive? Not to mention high evaporation in dry climates actually is normal and stopping it might harm local wildlife and flora on a larger scale?
Dan Ports@kellogh My grad school labmate who kept growing hydroponic tomatoes in server racks in the machine room was clearly onto something…
Turq@dan "tomatoes", sure...
Bekah D@kellogh that’s really cool. I thought we should be making surface parking lots do double duty (because they’re already land hungry use cases and shading cars in hot climates is good) but finding a way for crops and solar to benefit each other is awesome.
Horst Albermann 🇪🇺🇩🇪@kellogh Similar results in Europe/Germany https://agri-pv.org/en/
Cameo Wood
The Richie Rich@kellogh @mekkaokereke Yes it is. I hope that we can get the politics out of science so that this emerging technology breakthrough can be expanded. I suppose if it’s sold as a way for someone to make millions then it will be green lit.
Aaron In Minnesota@kellogh The potential to have floating arrays that also have solar tracking is one I hadn't thought of. Seems like such a major win!
Ultra Verified 🇺🇦 🇬🇱Sounds like a great recipe for slow cooked sauce.
Avi Rappoport (avirr)@kellogh excellent! “the panels kept plants cooler during the day and warmer at night, and they held more moisture in the air. These less-stressed plants produced just as many jalapeños, twice the crop of tomatoes, and three times the amount of chiltepin peppers as those on a control plot (2). They also needed substantially less watering, ... Water evaporation from the plants even helped to cool the panels and increase electricity output.”
Gabbo the wafrn dev guyits solarpunk time
Darwin Woodka@kellogh sounds like all greenhouses should have solar panels
Stefan@kellogh just adding #solarpunk here
David Mitchell 
Credible: increased agricultural yields under the right circumstances.
Incredible: increased output from the solar panels? I can’t imagine a mechanism that makes sense for this, nor could I find that in the article linked.
@DavidM_yeg the article implied that the coolness on the back side of the panel increased efficiency. i have no idea what i’m talking about, but it seems completely plausible that more energy would be produced from a steeper energy gradient 🤷♂️
Hmm… I didn’t see that in my read 🤷♂️ Hard to imagine it would be a very significant effect, but also not an expert.
Not arguing against ‘agrovoltaics’ in general either, done properly seems like a real win-win and doesn’t require inflated claims to justify itself.
“For example, if a hectare of AV in Germany produces as much food as 0.8 hectares of conventional farming, and as much power as 0.7 hectares of conventional solar, it still saves half a hectare of land.”
Zeborah@DavidM_yeg The article says "Water evaporation from the plants even helped to cool the panels and increase electricity output."
The original study it refers to is paywalled but I have access via work. The abstract mentions "reduced PV panel heat stress" and the full-text goes into more details.
@DavidM_yeg @zeborah and you didn’t upload it to sci-hub, shame shame
@kellogh @DavidM_yeg No, I do though encourage authors to upload their articles legally to their own institution's open access repository.
iwein@kellogh not all roofs and roads are covered with panels. Area wise we have no problem yet. That said, this is pretty cool?
HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴@kellogh
Part 1: #ClimateChange
Wow.
Solution to the #ClimateCrisis using #SolarPanels for #farming: #Agrivoltaics
"Properly designed solar installations can increase food #harvests, reduce the need for #irrigation, revive dying lakes, rescue #pollinators, restore #soils + cool overheated humans—all while producing more power than conventional solar arrays."
"In 1982, researchers @ the #FraunhoferInstitute for Solar Energy (ISE) in Germany proposed a... solution..."
KLB@HistoPol @kellogh I heard a really cool interview about this just a few days ago! https://the1a.org/segments/1a-remaking-america-can-solar-power-help-fix-drought-ravaged-farmlands/
Wm.sonPart 2: #SolutionsForClimateChange: #Agrivoltaics
(1/8)
IMO, combining the new solar-panel-above fields method* with ancient raised-field #WaruWaru #farming #technology could facilitate #WaterConservation and management, raise yields, reduce #fertilizer concentration, and reduce #erosion.
The solution to our current #drought problems in many areas might have been with us for 2,300 years at least, probably first developed by the #Tiahuanaco culture of the #Andean...
*See previous toot (Part 1)
(2/8)
...highlands of #Bolivia + #Peru.
Raised-field agriculture has also been used in countries like #China, #Mexico + #Morocco.
#WaruWaru also stems #desertification + creates a cooling (+warming during the night) #microclimate when combined w/ the #SolarPanels, similar to the #irrigated #gardens created by the Muslims, e.g. in the #Alhambra in #Andalucia. In combination with the solar panels. Jointly with the building of #Roman type #cisterns, #agriculture might even be extended to years..
(3/8)
...without rainfall for some time.
I am not an engineer, but it seems quite logic that the reflective capabilities of the
#SolarPanels will also protect the organic #soil from #erosion by rain, sun, and to some degree, wind.
After some interest in the 1960’s through 1980s and early 2000’s, a 2019 master thesis from #Italy with the chief aim of #WaterConservation and management takes aim to solve South American cities’ recurring #flood problems using #WaruWaru:
(4/8)
Whereas #WaruWaru (also called #camellones in #Peru) was developed for mountain #agriculture, the author #BeatriceSalinetti, like me, seems to see an application for many arid regions on all continents.
[TO BE CONTINUED in (5/8):
https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/110003784757750634]
Other Sources:
https://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread913772/pg1 (nice intro into #WaruWaru)
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/farming-like-the-incas-70263217/ (she incorrectly attributes the technology to the conquering #Incas, who were but a small pastoral tribe until the 12th century)...
Part 3: #ClimateChange and #AtmosphericRivers
(1/15)
I did not want to provide another installment today, but I just came across this older boost of mine about special weather conditions on the #US #WestCoast, that leads to recurrent #FloodingEvents called Atmospheric Rivers (AR).
https://mastodon.social/@UncensoredNews/109610717322432046
Now, I am not a #meterologist, but we know from Part 2 that the ancient Andean people had recurring over-abundant rainfall issues, too (El Niño events).
(2/15)
...Furthermore, e.g. Italy has been the target of similar events in recent decades.
And the #monsoon season in Asia has been a phenomenon for thousands of years.
Fun fact: did you know that there was a monsoon in the #US, too?
So, we can safely assume that building #Roman-Type cisterns or other huge water basins and the like will be an issue for many countries around the globe in the decades to come.
I read an article about about repurposing dried-out fields in #California for this..
(3/15)
...draining rain water into #aquifers, but I can't find it anymore for the time being.
However, I found an up-to-date-article here, which focuses more on the #WaterManagement than on the construction aspects:
"Over the past decade, #Dahlke’s experiments with submerging small plots have suggested 👉intentional #flooding can replenish aquifers without damaging either #groundwater quality or crops"👈
It is based on a law enacted in 2014:
"#California adopted a landmark law,...
(4/15)
...the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (#SGMA), that promotes the practice. It requires farmers to treat aquifers like bank accounts, clamping down on overdrafts but also allowing those who deposit water into them to make bigger withdrawals later."
It is a very interesting proposition and in combination with new (solar panels, where feasible) and re-discovered ( #WaruWaru) farming technologies, more arable land should remain for this century...
(5/15)
As I have learned from this #Oxfam video about "Culturas hidráulicas de #Moxos"* and the "#camellones", the latest research dates the raised-field technology in #SouthAmerica even earlier, to 850 to 1,000 BCE.
Furthermore, this technology was in use in many more regions of #SouthAmerica.
*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnMUnTYhuzo
In the language of the conquering tribe, #Quechua, the term is #WaruWaru. However, using the term in...
Camellones
(6/15)
...the language of the descendants of the (probable) inventors, the #Tiahuanaco culture, #Aymara, it is #sucacollos.
https://atlantisbolivia.org/sukakollusesp.html
How is this relevant? - Helps to find new sources.😉
What I've learned from this #Peruvian website is that there were also different #WaterManagement systems, apart from the #WaruWaru.
E. g., the "#ChacrasHundidas" (Northern #Peru) or the "producción en andenes" (all of Peru), as Ronald Ancajima of GSASUAGA, states here:
(7/15)
[Footnote I of V:
10th #AtmosphericRiver in #California on 03/11/2023:]
"This marks the state’s 10th atmospheric river *this winter*.”
#WaruWaru style #flood prevention and #WaterManagement are decades overdue.
"In the...#Andes, pre-#Inca cultures developed nature-based #water harvesting technologies to manage #drought and #flood risks under natural climatic extremes.
These technologies have gained renewed attention as a..."
Storm breaches Calif. river's levee, hundreds evacuate
(8/15)
[Footnote II of V:
10th #AtmosphericRiver in #California on 03/11/2023:]
"...potential strategy to increase #WaterSecurity...
The technology is a combination of #rehabilitation of marginal #soils, #drainage improvement, #WaterStorage, optimal utilization of available radiant energy, and attenuation of the effects of #frost. The main feature of this system is the construction of a network of #embankments and #canals."
Take a look of the cartographed #ElNiño events in #SouthAmerica...
(9/15)
[Footnote III of IV:
10th #AtmosphericRiver in #California on 03/11/2023:]
...comparison to atmospheric river events is brutally obvious....
Source:
Waru Waru: the new pueblo
Flood attenuation system for Latin-American cities
Master Thesis by
Beatrice Salinetti
Milan, Italy, 2019
(10/15)
[Footnote IV of V:
10th #AtmosphericRiver in #California on 03/11/2023:]
Atmospheric Rivers have become a problem for most of the #WestCoast of #NorthAmerica, including even #BritishColumbia and #Alaska:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/06/world/atmospheric-river-arctic-sea-ice-climate/index.html
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/11/16/whats-an-atmospheric-river.html
(11/15)
[Footnote V of V: 10th #AtmosphericRiver in #California on 03/11/2023:]
And in case you were wondering how the #reservoirs were doing while #CA has been experiencing all these floods due to Atmospheric River events, here is the answer:
Many California reservoirs are still below their historical levels.
/END Footnotes
(continues in 12/15)
Thanks for the comprehensive reboosts of this important subject. :)
I have added you to the list.
(5/8)
[Other sources continued:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waru_Waru]
Further good news from the world of #Agrivoltaics:
"..putting agriculture under solar installations—is a good way to maximize land use. It also makes the #SolarPanels *last longer*...
Solar panels mounted 4 meters above a #soybean crop were connected to temperature reductions of up to *10* degrees Celsius, the study found, compared to..."
https://www.fastcompany.com/90861486/agrivoltaics-crops-under-solar-panels-good-for-panels
(6/8)
"...#SolarPanels mounted half a meter above bare soil...
higher temperatures can decrease the lifetime and
"...efficiency of #SolarPanels.
Cooling mechanisms:
-#evapotranspiration
-plants reflect less solar radiation than the bare soil
- panel higher above ground...better air circulation
"There are a lot more questions to answer about the relationship between solar energy and #crops (how to more effectively plant, grow, and #harvest those crops...
(7/8)
"...underneath panels is a major one). This research is only the beginning."
Max #Zhang is a professor of mechanical engineering at #CornellUniversity".
Imagine the enormous additional cooling effects putting #WaruWaru canals below the panels in #Agrivoltaics!
https://www.fastcompany.com/90861486/agrivoltaics-crops-under-solar-panels-good-for-panels
(8/8)
If you like to have a more animated view of the technology, I have discovered this nice #YouTube video which focuses on the intricacies of the #WaruWaru canals in #English.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxeVweYYi4c
[Continued in Part 3: #ClimateChange and #AtmosphericRivers, applying it to other geographic regions than the #Andean highlands]
The Mysterious Waru Waru Constructions Next to Lake Titicaca
a1@HistoPol Just love the comment one did on the abovesecret site: "Minecraft"! 😂
Which comment exactly?--It's been almost a year since I've written this.