Farm the Sun... And have crops too...

 
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hotblast1357
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Post by hotblast1357 » Fri. Apr. 08, 2022 6:51 am

Rob R. wrote:
Thu. Apr. 07, 2022 4:29 pm
I know that wind farm well. It is in an area that gets more wind than any other place I have been. The day I took these pictures it was about -20 with zero wind. Bad day for a heat pump if you were counting on wind power.
It’s extremely windy over there! There should be more mills there, but the ones that are there don’t even spin..


 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Fri. Apr. 08, 2022 6:58 am

It is like another world. I think the trees are bare 8 months of the year. :lol:

 
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Post by hotblast1357 » Fri. Apr. 08, 2022 7:57 am

I think it’s actually cool to see them off in the distance from 87.

There’s a huge project this summer in Ohio, they are bringing the windmills into the port of ogdensburg to be transported by truck, over to Ohio, gonna be a massive job.

 
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Post by freetown fred » Mon. Apr. 18, 2022 10:38 am

INDEED HE DID W!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
warminmn wrote:
Thu. Apr. 07, 2022 4:28 pm
Your nicer than me. I would have driven thru it and went after them for the damage to my truck. I may move myself but promised I'd give it a year to see if I can handle looking at it when they are within a mile. Windmills can be seen roughly 20 miles here on this flat land and I can see a strong 150 now but at a long distance. All those red lights flashing I hate. They will ruin my sunsets that I enjoy so much. Your right, they just dont get it, and likely dont care. Im glad Im not young quite often. That Maine hermit had the right idea, lol

 
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Post by Hoytman » Mon. Apr. 24, 2023 9:13 am

I look at it like this for now…

Currently the world has gone nuts about this so-called “green” movement, “climate change” garbage. That said, for now, at least some movement in that direction seems inevitable considering Which is the controlling party…mostly…for the last 100 years.

So, the way I see it, if good dark land is going to be taken up by solar farms, then you want a “double crop” because a single crop solar farm is exactly what most of you have been discussing, an eye sore to those who choose to live the “country” lifestyle.

However, if we have to live with giant solar farms them these new style “double crop” farms are the only way to go. The panels are much higher off the ground, and rotate and pivot with the movement of the sun. Some machinery can be gotten underneath these panels to plant and harvest…and if they can’t, then some farmers will do what they always do…invent equipment that will work. Plus, the panels provide some shade and heat stress relief for plants during the hottest times of the season and this can be a bonus for production because it airs in conserving ground water via additional shade. It also provides shade for manual labor during the work.

I’m sure I could think of more pros and cons, but there’s just a few thoughts on the upside of things. The initial post wasn’t about the most types of solar farms already in existence that are close to the ground, it was about a new method of farming for both agriculture and the sun.

I still wouldn’t want to have to look at one of these farms, but if I had to, then I’d still want the ground to be able to be utilized for crop production and/or turned into pasture ground for livestock which is another possibility. Animals would have additional shade and grasses would remain more tender because of the shade as well. The shade would not be in the same continuous spot either, it would move because the panels rotate two directions and are high r off of the ground allowing some sun underneath them, unlike with trees that don’t move. These are just some benefits I can think of to this style of solar farming and AG farming together.

Still, I agree with everything everyone else said, so no sense me repeating it. It’s something I’d want to look at or cause my neighbors to have to look at it on a massive farm. If a farmer wanted to have enough to provide his own electricity, then go for it. That removes him from government utilities, lessens his money leaving the farm, and I’m all for that…be it heating with wood/coal, electric powered by water/wind/solar…and solar could go on the farmers buildings.

 
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Post by freetown fred » Mon. Apr. 24, 2023 10:55 am

Yrs ago. I presented a Town ordinance prohibiting any solar or wind projects in Freetown--it passed with flying colors!!! Heading into Cortland (about an hr away) there are a couple solar fields--they SUK, but then again--in my humble opinion so do city's. For the record--we have NO zoning--just ordinances.:)

 
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Post by Rob R. » Mon. Apr. 24, 2023 11:00 am

I have wondered why more wind and solar equipment is not located in urban areas. They make small wind turbines that could be located on tall buildings. Solar can be mounted on rooftops. If the people in city’s think this stuff is so great they need to start in their own back yard.

This past weekend I went to a hockey rink in Massachusetts and the entire parking lot was full of solar panels mounted high on poles. It was easy to park underneath. In hot weather I think it would be nice to park in the shade.


 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Mon. Apr. 24, 2023 11:13 am

Rob R. wrote:
Mon. Apr. 24, 2023 11:00 am
I have wondered why more wind and solar equipment is not located in urban areas. They make small wind turbines that could be located on tall buildings. Solar can be mounted on rooftops. If the people in city’s think this stuff is so great they need to start in their own back yard.

This past weekend I went to a hockey rink in Massachusetts and the entire parking lot was full of solar panels mounted high on a poles. It was easy to park underneath. In hot weather I think it would be nice to park in the shade.
Same reason they don't want power plants in their cities. It's so common that there has long been a name for them, "NIMBYs" - Not In my Back Yard. I well remember the fights and lies told to prevent the building of the Shoreham nuclear power plant.

Many in the cities think anything messy or unsightly should be out in the country because the hicks won't care. :roll:

Paul

 
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Post by warminmn » Mon. Apr. 24, 2023 11:23 am

The solar farm has started building near me now. They brag about jobs created but I havent seen even one local contractor there yet. Some from out of state, the rest from 100 miles or more cities. Its such a waste of prime farmland. When it gets going better so I know the final acreage I'll do the math and present it here to show how stupid the farm is.

The whole project was approved by the county before the township was even notified of the plan. Real honest, NOT! The land owners live in other states too. Wind farms do similar tactics. They even pretended to be county employees wanting to do bat studies on some private land as the last wind farm plan got stopped because of rare bats in caves here... kinda funny that I got saved that time because of bats, lol Anyway, you cant trust any of them.

I do like the idea of solar panels in parking lots. That makes more sense than any other idea Ive heard of.

 
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Post by nut » Mon. Apr. 24, 2023 2:25 pm

Around here farms are dropping like flies due to low milk prices. Houses popping up all over the place. Sometimes leases allow farmers to hang on to their land. Gas leases were the big thing at one time.

 
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Post by davidmcbeth3 » Tue. Apr. 25, 2023 12:59 am

warminmn wrote:
Thu. Apr. 07, 2022 8:37 am
You already posted about this before BB. snip
16.jpeg
.JPEG | 17.6KB | 16.jpeg
Aw, I don't mind many similar threads. Solar farms up north are not solar farms, semi-solar farms. I demand only full auto solar farms.

 
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Post by waytomany?s » Tue. Apr. 25, 2023 4:02 pm

Unless the composition of panels has changed, they leach out cadmium and another chemical that I cannot recall. Supposedly these chemicals contaminate the soil to the point that when the solar farm is decommissioned, the soil is unfit for crops for thousands of years. Been awhile since I've read up on it, maybe someone with a more current take on it can respond.

 
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Post by nut » Tue. Apr. 25, 2023 4:31 pm

I looked around briefly and it looks like the problem is with end of life recycling concerning chemicals.

 
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Post by davidmcbeth3 » Tue. Apr. 25, 2023 5:13 pm

nut wrote:
Tue. Apr. 25, 2023 4:31 pm
I looked around briefly and it looks like the problem is with end of life recycling concerning chemicals.
Way back, when I worked for a waste company, when a load of liquid waste would come into the facility we would test it for heavy metals. Those that failed the test were denied the ability to dump. Such loads were then dumped on the interstate via the driver opening his tank's drain value and driving around on the interstate on the east side of Chicago....this is the way.

 
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Post by nut » Tue. Apr. 25, 2023 5:24 pm

WE had some of that going on around here to. One guy spread transformer oil on the dirt road in front of his house to keep the dust down. They caught up to him on the run and put him in jail. Another's gas station tanks were getting water in them. He would put the contaminated gas in barrels and take it for a ride. Another guy was putting barrels of chemicals in his unlined landfill in the middle of the night. That one became a super fund site. It happens. I worry about legal chemicals in our food chain. Things like Round Up. It's in all of us now.


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