Town rejects solar farm

[47of74]

The town of Woodland, North Carolina has rejected a solar farm, and additionally has placed a moratorium on any future solar farms.  There were some real gems in the meeting where the vote was taken;

Quote

Jane Mann said she is a local native and is concerned about the plants that make the community beautiful.

She is a retired Northampton science teacher and is concerned that photosynthesis, which depends upon sunlight, would not happen and would keep the plants from growing. She said she has observed areas near solar panels where the plants are brown and dead because they did not get enough sunlight.

Bobby Mann said he watched communities dry up when I-95 came along and warned that would happen to Woodland because of the solar farms.

He said the solar farms would suck up all the energy from the sun and businesses would not come to Woodland.

Mr. Mann also claimed the solar panels were making young people move away.  I'm guessing yeah people are moving away, but not because of any solar panels.

I'm also wondering if the couple worry about black helicopters closing in at any moment?

 

[Chowder Head]

The stupid hurts and how in god's green earth did that lady teach science.

[Pseudoname]

SMH.  Yup, nothing kills flora and fauna quite like clean, safe renewable energy, certainly not fossil fuels. 

wait for it, it won't be long before someone starts to argue that solar energy cells produce infra sounds that make people sick and disabled (such as the claims against wind farms)

http://theconversation.com/infrasound-phobia-spreads-to-solar-energy-cells-whats-next-46023

i have solar panels on my roof, and am saving for more in the future.

<insert sarcasm font>  But yea, I don't have any lovely native (nor invasive) plants growing under my solar panels, so maybe they have a point. 

[BackseatMom]

Wow. That's what is wrong with our public education system right there.

[PennySycamore]

What you want to bet that the Manns don't have ties to Duke Energy?

[Gossamer1]

11 hours ago, 47of74 said:

He said the solar farms would suck up all the energy from the sun and businesses would not come to Woodland.

If anyone here has an understanding of fundie logic and/or how science is taught would you please explain how the solar farms will "suck up all the energy from the sun" and also how that would prevent companies moving to Woodland.

Thank you.

[church_of_dog]

42 minutes ago, Gossamer1 said:

If anyone here has an understanding of fundie logic and/or how science is taught would you please explain how the solar farms will "suck up all the energy from the sun" and also how that would prevent companies moving to Woodland.

Thank you.

Ha!  Well, to address your second point first, if solar cells really did "suck up all the energy from the sun" I can certainly see how that would cause problems, but "preventing companies from moving to the area" really seems like it wouldn't be first on the list.  As a matter of fact, I think Stephen King might like to use this idea for a new novel...

But back to that original point -- it shows such an odd understanding of how things work.  I mean, most of us don't know the details of how photovoltaics work -- I certainly don't, and I have PV panels at my house and am more familiar with them than your average Joe.  But to expand that lack of understanding to include the idea of sucking up all the nearby energy just seems illogical to the extreme...  Oh wait, this is fundamentalist thinking we're talking about -- never mind, it makes sense now!

Just in case any of them are reading -- here's how a solar panel interferes with solar energy reaching the earth:  in exactly the same way that "shade" works.   Ya know, like this:

[xlurker]

Solar? Heck yeah!  Wind power, yup.  Using a running stream on my property to generate power, absolutely!  I would so do any and all of these things if I were able. I would love to be off the grid....don't understand why anyone would prefer more expensive, fossil fuel power.  Even if solar farm is run and power distributed by power company, its gotta be cheaper then how they are generating power now.  SMH

[turquoise]

Solar panels don't emit some sort of mysterious energy that interferes with photosynthesis for miles around. I'm going to take a wild guess that the plant that turned brown near the solar panel was in the shade.

[47of74]

On December 14, 2015 at 11:07 PM, turquoise said:

Solar panels don't emit some sort of mysterious energy that interferes with photosynthesis for miles around. I'm going to take a wild guess that the plant that turned brown near the solar panel was in the shade.

 

And I'm guessing some people didn't spend quite enough time in the shade.

 

[doggie]

On 12/13/2015 at 7:45 PM, Chowder Head said:

The stupid hurts and how in god's green earth did that lady teach science.

just think of the poor kids she taught.

[clueliss]

How much of this has zero to do with science and is based on 'I'm afraid an 'ugly' solar field will decrease my home value'????

[LadyCrow1313]

On ‎12‎/‎13‎/‎2015 at 11:32 AM, church_of_dog said:

Ha!  Well, to address your second point first, if solar cells really did "suck up all the energy from the sun" I can certainly see how that would cause problems, but "preventing companies from moving to the area" really seems like it wouldn't be first on the list.  As a matter of fact, I think Stephen King might like to use this idea for a new novel...

 

That would make an AMAZING Stephen King novel. I can just imagine it, too...