this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2026
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
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We already have vast plots of land being taken up by parking lots and buildings. There is a hospital in my area that put solar panels over the parking lot. It is really nice. Your car interior stays cooler. Many buildings have their AC cooling fans on the roof. Solar panels would also shade those and help make them more efficient. All of these areas already have a hookup to the grid. Substation may need to be modified but it isn't as dramatic as you make it sound. Also everything has upkeep costs, including oil refineries and power plants.
yeah but check the economics. climbing on roofs to install 3 m² of solar panels is just not worth it. the total cost of the system is not just the cost of solar panels + land area, but rather solar panels + land area + installation workers cost. and installation work costs significantly more on a roof than on a flat plain area, which is why the plain land is cheaper overall.
People seem to underestimate the scale of utility level solar installations and the space they need, and the economies of scale you get with it.
Like absolutely when it makes sense cover a parking lot, put it on roofs etc, but if you can access a field with the right conditions it'll be more cost effective.
You also left off things like permitting. You can permit 1 big field, or dozens / hundreds of parking lots. One field will be easier.
Also, that field can benefit from the shade if the solar is built right
Yes, but the thing is that any usable space should be used, it is the principle of minimum waste; precisely because just a few m² of solar panels aren't going to produce as much energy as required, is because we need it wherever possible; also, haven't you though about the fact that edge energy production is everyday more necessary? It's totally worth it, by far.
So you're saying we have big areas that are already being used for something else that would need to be at least partially demolished in order to accommodate the infrastructure?
... Something that is way more difficult than popping a pole in the ground.
Look, I am 100% for renewables and have about 500W of panels for small things at home, I am not saying "don't do everything possible to distribute power over as many places that can be retrofitted as possible" I'm saying the OP meme is a bad comparison.
Rooftop solar, parking lot solar, balconies with solar panels bolted on, bring on the distributed power grid. Bare minimum every country engaging in warfare should WANT solar everywhere since it makes it MUCH harder for anyone to attack power production facilities and take down important and significant portions of the grid. That alone makes their power grid much more secure, if not "under government control".
I'd love to have a hybrid wind/solar setup, I live next to some fields and forest, andon top of a hill. So I get plenty of wind all year round and on the far end of the driveway I have a bit area for solar panels with great LOS for the sun from about 10am until sunset. I just don't have the money.
So yeah, I'm all for sinking our tax dollars into a solar revolution (especially when considering what the country ACTUALLY spends money on) but the meme is a bad meme making a false equivalence.
Where did he said that for that someone should demolish the rooftop of an hospital or, even more absurd, an open-air parking lot? You're just making a straw man fallacy, because you're distorting what he said so you can deny it more easy instead of trying to actually respond to what he actually said.
If you think things can be retrofitted for solar without partially dismantling, digging, or otherwise requiring, as stated, partial demolition, I've got a bridge to Alaska to sell you.
And also as stated, I am in no way against doing these things.
Hrmm, this got me thinking a little actually. Where I am, there isn’t much wind, but other provinces do, we were mainly coal and LPG powered, still are. But solar is on the upswing, our city has multiple massive solar farms.
Anyways, what got me thinking is why we don’t have wind as well, I’m wondering if just due to the almost daily wind spikes being on the east side of the Rockies? How often would the be locked out would make them unfeasible?
Maybe there’s some study on it I can dig up later.