Solar Panels on Eglin AFB cost 34,000 trees

Just read today, in the Bay Beacon, that the solar panels being placed on Eglin, in coordination with Gulf Power, will take down 34,000 trees. Impact on habitats?

Impact will be tremendous. I am pretty big on renewables, and although I spent nearly 15 years building utility scale wind turbines, this is not the direction that I think renewables should be going, and I never did. I completely disagree that bigger is better, and I believe that small wind, solar,... renewables is the direction that the industry should be focusing.

I want to see R&D in small scale so that we see people becoming independent of the utility companies and getting off the grid. THAT is what will help this country become independent from the Saudis and their oil. Destroying ecosystems in favor of erecting massive wind and solar farms? I fail to see the net benefit.

Just my two cents.

I'm hoping something will break out of the pack. The last thing I read about that Italian guy's cold fusion is that it might be the real deal.

I should edit/clarify my above comment. I DO see a net benefit to any sort of wind or solar farm, be it big or small, over using traditional gas, coal fired plants, etc. I just think there is a much better way. I think the way is energy independence on a micro level... having individuals be independent of the utility companies.

I agree with your edit. Over the long run those solar panels will be more important for our environment than the trees they will replace. It's a shame any trees have to be cut but at least in this case it is for a good cause. Not anything like the raping of the rain forests.

Yeah but the trade off is that trees "do work" in our environment... they clean the atmosphere by taking in CO2 and releasing O2. One mature tree makes as much O2 in a year as ten people breathe in a year. Times 34,000 trees... that's a lot of O2. Plus they provide habitat for all sorts of critters big and small... animals, insects, birds.

Obviously I support renewables otherwise I would not have dedicated 15 years of my life to it, but trust me when I tell you that mowing down 34k trees to erect solar farms... that is something that was never intended by the founders of the industry. I can promise you that.

Bravo, Riceme! We all know that that a a winning government contract has nothing to do with sustainability, value or even state of the art technology.

As a daughter of a career Naval aviator and having military in my family all the way back to the French and Indian War, iit's irritating that there is not a better system of accountability for the military.

riceme wrote:

Yeah but the trade off is that trees "do work" in our environment... they clean the atmosphere by taking in CO2 and releasing O2. One mature tree makes as much O2 in a year as ten people breathe in a year. Times 34,000 trees... that's a lot of O2. Plus they provide habitat for all sorts of critters big and small... animals, insects, birds.

Obviously I support renewables otherwise I would not have dedicated 15 years of my life to it, but trust me when I tell you that mowing down 34k trees to erect solar farms... that is something that was never intended by the founders of the industry. I can promise you that.