this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Hops for beer flourish under solar panels. They're not the only crop thriving in the shade. (apnews.com)
submitted 1 year ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Hops for beer flourish under solar panels. They're not the only crop thriving in the shade.::A farm in Bavaria is covering its hops with solar panels, providing electricity to 250 households and shading the plants from the increasingly scorching summer heat in the process.

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[–] Lazerbeams2@ttrpg.network 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sounds good to me. My only real complaint about solar panels is the space they occupy. That complaint goes away if that space can also be used for crops. It's a win/win

[–] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Solar panels are about 70x as efficient in getting energy when compared to corn ethanol. If all corn ethanol land (which is heavily irrigated, fertilized, and subsidized) were converted to solar, it would generate 3x the yearly electricity needs of the US.

30.2 million acres * 400 MWh/acre/year = 12,080 TWh/year. US energy use is about 4,000 TWh/year.

We are already taking cropland away for energy production, might as well make it way more efficient.

[–] TheMightyCanuck@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do we use corn ethanol for any mass power production?

[–] Kage520@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I think a lot goes into gasoline. Like a large percentage of our corn crops