Re:Japan nuclear body says radioactive water at Fukushima an...
by ctdonath on Tuesday August 06, 2013 @11:54AM
(#6167295)
The problem is you're taking that energy from one area and shifting it elsewhere. Acres of untouched natural fields suddenly covered with solar panels wicking away the bulk of light & heat will wreck the local ecosystem. Sure it's not aggregating an undue accumulation of additional heat, but shifting it around in large scales does impact. Make those solar farms big enough, and you'll start seeing atmospheric effects akin to the "heat bubble" effect cities suffer.
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Re:Japan nuclear body says radioactive water at Fukushima an...
by digikata on Tuesday August 06, 2013 @02:21PM
(#6168234)
No, if the panels are on rooftops, and the electricity is mostly used in the same building, you have the same net thermodynamic effect of the sun hitting the building. No additional entropy is generated.
If cities at large become net exporters of electricity it would in some small part alleviate heat bubbles.
If the panels are next the the city, you do concentrate heat more in the city as electric is delivered, but no more than electric supplied and consumed from non solar sources. If the panels are adjacent to the city, you again alleviate the heat bubble to some small extent because you're cooling one area and increasing the thermal gradient between the hot city and cooler solar panel farm.
I don't know how one would conclude that any of these effects are of a magnitude to "wreck the local ecosystem".