Across the U.S., critics are pressuring public officials to stop or stall new solar projects, often citing unfounded health concerns.
  • _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    14 days ago

    Probably by the very same idiots who are militantly anti-vaccine and refused to take even basic precautions during a global pandemic.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    14 days ago

    The county’s medical director has claimed that large solar facilities are a potential health risk for residents.

    That is outright insane. Also the article sucks for not going more into why he/she is saying that.

    Here they call it iron fields, and AFAIK it’s all about them being ugly, and has nothing to do with weirdo health claims.
    Personally I’d prefer the fields around our house to not become solar farms, but from a health perspective, I bet it’s actually safer, as there are no toxic chemicals used.
    While ordinary fields are generally sprayed with manure, insecticides and weedkillers which all contain toxins.

    • Lor@mander.xyz
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      13 days ago

      noise comes from the inverters and fans. panels contain cadmium and lead and if damaged (hail, tornadoes) can leach into groundwater. lithium batteries on site can fail and leak or catch fire. this is not conspiracy level stuff here. these are actual things that happen. i am all for cleaner energy. but nothing we have available is not without issues.…

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        13 days ago

        We have 2 pretty big installations a few kilometers from where I live, I’ve never heard any noise from them.
        Silicon panels do not contain cadmium, and the amount of lead is microscopic, and probably less than what would be contained in the different substances used to maintain a normal field of crops, and certainly less than what is used over 20 years, that is the minimum durability for even cheap solar panels. Panels that are based on Cadmium are no longer used. (Except maybe in USA?)

        I have no idea why there would be lithium batteries that leak into the groundwater? Lithium is also not really toxic except above pretty high levels, and is already naturally in the groundwater in most places.
        In fact I live in the place in Denmark that has the most lithium in the groundwater, and I have never heard it mentioned as a problem. We can drink tap water without issue, and it’s even rated as way higher quality than bottled water.

        https://www.freeingenergy.com/are-solar-panels-really-full-of-toxic-materials-like-cadmium-and-lead/

        Even for the panels that use Cadmium, the Cadmium is encapsulated, and even in extreme landfill conditions, very little of it escapes into the environment.

        this is not conspiracy level stuff here

        Wrong, it absolutely is. it’s decidedly insane. I have never heard anyone here make any of those claims here, and I live in the best area of Denmark for solar power, so we have more solar power here than anywhere else in the country. We also have people that are a bit out there, but luckily they are not that far gone.

  • UpperBroccoli@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    13 days ago

    The only reliable way to get rid of this kind of nimby opposition to clean energy projects is to let the nimbys have a part of the cake. It works for wind energy turbines here in Germany, it should work for solar, too. When people get a share if the money, all concerns magically vanish…