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[10ebbor10]

Fortunately, Bob the tortoise, while too slow to outrun the coyotes, is still fast enough to move out of the way of the shadow cast by an immobile, fucking, solar panel. That may or may not rotate occasionally. Or into it if he fucking feels like it. Don't tell Bob what he can or can't do!

I was thinking more about some of the burrowing species. Say one happens to burrow near a solar panel. Shadow moves over, the sand cools down, and the animal emerges, thinking twilight has come. Which it hasn't. Animal overheats, dies, or wastes precious energy.

Effects are fairly minimal, but not nonexistent.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

But there are plenty of objects in the desert that cast shadows.

[10ebbor10]

Not in massive quantities and density of  a solar power plant.

but yeah, the effects are neglible.

[Dutchling]

ebbor, what is your avatar?

[Flying Dice]

Really, worrying about shit like this instead of (say) what hydroelectric dams do to waterway ecosystems is pretty much rage-worthy.

[Parsely]

ebbor, what is your avatar?

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

[10ebbor10]

ebbor, what is your avatar?

It's the guide.

In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitchhiker’s Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopaedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects. First, it is slightly cheaper; and second, it has the words “DON’T PANIC” inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.

Really, worrying about shit like this instead of (say) what hydroelectric dams do to waterway ecosystems is pretty much rage-worthy.

You were going to need to build those dams anyway for energy storage.

[Eotyrannus]

Dams are definitely worse than solar panels. I'd be fine if we had a survey of what a bunch of solar panels would actually do to the desert, and it turned out it didn't have an adverse effect on the environment. Until then, however, I'm voting we still need more data.

[NobodyPro]

I'd say that more damage would be done to the environment by the installation and maintenance of the solar panels than by the shadow they cast (though that is a valid point).

[10ebbor10]

On a side note, do we have any idea what effects the large reflection would have on local weather systems. Not that it'll make much different, but it could change local weather.

[Frumple]

We... kinda' do? I mean, urban areas. More or less. Reflection or heat trapping being the cause of it is fairly irrelevant, I think? Effect would still be more or less the same. Not that there isn't plenty of reflection going on in those areas, too.

I don't think the (currently) better large scale solar options would have that much of a problem, regarding that. They're basically just freaking gigantic mirrors concentrating sunlight on a point. Not much heat/light spewing around everywhere. You don't want that, anyway. Wasted energy.

[10ebbor10]

We... kinda' do? I mean, urban areas. More or less. Reflection or heat trapping being the cause of it is fairly irrelevant, I think? Effect would still be more or less the same. Not that there isn't plenty of reflection going on in those areas, too.

Urban areas increase temperatures by 5 to 10 degrees . Depending on time and location. The effects of that aren't very neglible, but they're drowned out by the effects of the mass of steel and concrete

I don't think the (currently) better large scale solar options would have that much of a problem, regarding that. They're basically just freaking gigantic mirrors concentrating sunlight on a point. Not much heat/light spewing around everywhere. You don't want that, anyway. Wasted energy.

I meant that the light is reflected rather than wasted on the ground, resulting in lower temperatures on average. Probably neglible, but the effects exist.

[Akura]

Frantic woman drives up with an unconscious man in the passenger seat, "Which way is xxx Hospital?"

The stupid person says "Right," to indicate he understood the question, then "Turn left here, and it's just ahead."

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The stupid person was me...

Fortunately, she parsed it as intended, and turned left, not right.

Reminds me of a few weeks ago, when someone pulled up to me to ask where a specific street was(said street is a 6-lane highway, kinda hard to miss). Drives off before I finish explaining. I hope they got lost.

[Redzephyr01]

"A pint of ice cream is snack sized." -stupid person who apparently can't read the label on the back of the ice cream container

[EnigmaticHat]

While I'm open to the idea of solar panels being harmful, it seems implausible to me.  The world is already littered with millions of organic solar panels called plants.