#MADE IN THE SHADE INSTALL#

There’s even evidence to suggest that certain crops actually grow better, stronger, and longer under the protective covering of solar panels than they might otherwise, especially in hotter, more arid growing environments. Panels can also help protect crops from hailstorms, high winds, and severe cold and heat, making them less vulnerable to extreme weather events. Thanks to the shade provided by the panels, for example, the soil can retain more water, meaning it needs less irrigation. Research indicates that growing crops beneath photovoltaic displays can actually yield a distinct set of agricultural and environmental benefits. Recently, the field of agrivoltaics has emerged to explore ways of incorporating solar arrays into farmland without sacrificing that farmland’s arability, effectively allowing landowners to cultivate crops and generate clean energy harmoniously at the same time.

#MADE IN THE SHADE INSTALL#

How do we install them without fundamentally altering the physical character and functionality of our landscapes? Must scaling up mean contributing to energy sprawl?

Scaling up solar to that degree would require a lot of photovoltaic panels-which, in turn, could take up a lot of land. But this hopeful scenario poses a conundrum. Department of Energy’s latest Solar Futures Study, solar may well be supplying us with as much as 40 percent of our electricity by the middle of the next decade. If the country is to meet these targets, solar power is going to have to play a big part.Īnd according to the U.S. greenhouse gas pollution by at least half (from 2005 levels) by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions in the electricity sector by 2035. President Biden has set a goal of cutting U.S.

Made in the shade