
US town rejects solar panels fearing they 'suck up all the energy from the sun' - davidbarker
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-town-rejects-solar-panels-amid-fears-they-suck-up-all-the-energy-from-the-sun-a6771526.html
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jimrandomh
The title of this article puts (single) quotes around the phrase "suck up all
the energy from the sun", but it is not a quote. From reading the more direct
source, this looks like the true rejection:

> She added that the only people profiting are the landowners who sell their
> land, the solar companies, and the electrical companies. [...] The town
> would not benefit from the solar farms because they are not located within
> the town limits, but only in the extraterritorial sections. The only funding
> the town would get is about $7,000 per year to train the fire department in
> case something goes wrong.

Ie, they have a point of leverage (zoning) and they want the solar companies
to pay more (with taxes or other development projects) for the right to
develop that land. I'm not sure whether I'd take their side or not, but
they're clearly not stupid.

~~~
toomuchtodo
> During the Woodland Town Council meeting, one local man, Bobby Mann, said
> solar farms would suck up all the energy from the sun and businesses would
> not go to Woodland, the Roanoke-Chowan News Herald reported.

> Jane Mann, a retired science teacher, said she was concerned the panels
> would prevent plants in the area from photosynthesizing, stopping them from
> growing.

> Ms Mann said she had seen areas near solar panels where plants are brown and
> dead because they did not get enough sunlight.

> She also questioned the high number of cancer deaths in the area, saying no
> one could tell her solar panels didn't cause cancer.

As an American, I apologize for the ignorance (and I'm being generous) of the
residents of Woodland, North Carolina (Population: 766)

~~~
DrScump
As an American, I apologize for the poor reading skills of this comment's
author.

If you actually read the original source, there was a grand total of _one
couple_ that was quoted as saying _anything like_ what the Independent's
headline attributed to the town as a whole.

Read further, and you will find that the question before the meeting was not
about the merits of solar power but that the company wanted _additional_
parcels of land _rezoned_ , parcels that were not intended for industrial use
in the first place. They have been able to put solar farms anywhere else they
wanted that was zoned appropriately.

The area already has a substantial installed base of solar. Quoting the
article: "Three other solar farms had previously been accepted by the town
council, with one of the (sic) now putting solar panels up."

~~~
toomuchtodo
Can you explain the problem with having parcels rezoned for solar generation
in a town under 800 people? The location was picked precisely because of the
nearby transmission substation.

------
blakesterz
If you read the original:

[http://www.roanoke-
chowannewsherald.com/2015/12/08/woodland-...](http://www.roanoke-
chowannewsherald.com/2015/12/08/woodland-rejects-solar-farm/)

And see what they really said/meant they sound far far less crazy. It's pretty
clear they don't think solar panels are using up the energy from the sun.

~~~
merraksh
Well, the original article shows that these citizens are concerned that the
business is not going to do good to the town, but they did make some, let's
say, debatable addition.

 _[Jane Mann] 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._

If you put a plant next to, or under, a solar panel, it won't get enough
direct sunlight. But "areas near solar panels" would probably be deforested
anyway.

Another two excerpts from that article, I'm not sure they are much more
reasonable than stated by the OP.

 _She also questioned the high number of cancer deaths in the area, saying no
one could tell her that solar panels didn’t cause cancer._

 _[Bobby Mann] said the solar farms would suck up all the energy from the sun
and businesses would not come to Woodland._

------
coldcode
As long as I have lived I still find it hard to accept that educated people
can be this ignorant about basic science. Then again stories in the press
often carefully leave out the real story so you can't always believe what you
read.

~~~
coldcode
As per the above comment this is one of those stories edited to make people
sound stupid.

~~~
tbyehl
All the parts that make people sound stupid are right there in the original
story.

~~~
DrScump
Grand total: _two_ such people.

------
timmaah
Town also rejects seaport. The extra ships will make the ocean rise.

