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The business case for pollinator-friendly solar sites
The business case for pollinator-friendly solar sites
Steve Levitsky, Brian Riddle, Dennis vanEngelsdorp and Albert Todd
Monday, May 15, 2017
Courtesy of: Fresh Energy
A critical opportunity is being largely overlooked on solar sites developed on farmland and outside of the desert Southwest — there has been too much focus on the hardware and not enough consideration of the vegetation under and around the panels.
Some folks don’t like living next to solar arrays, particularly when the array is "solar-centric" in design (gravel covering the site). Instead of solar-centric approaches, businesses can help local farms and lakes, streams and estuaries by encouraging co-benefit/low-impact solar designs that are planted with native flowering plants.
We support the development of new "pollinator-friendly" solar approaches, which bring with them potential agricultural, economic and environmental benefits.
Opportunities for agriculture
Pollinator habitat on solar sites is a common practice in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and is abundantly feasible wherever solar installations are replacing rowcrops. The practice simply uses a different seed mix — not turf grass — to create a low-growing and shade-tolerant flowering meadow. These flowering plants have many agricultural and ecological benefits. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that globally, 75 percent of food crops rely at least partially on pollination. Pollinator-friendly solar sites can bring pollinators into closer contact with food crops.
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Improvement of soil and water quality
Instead of gravel or turfgrass, sites with properly designed native vegetation help capture nutrients in the soil and prevent the movement of nutrients into our lakes, streams and estuaries (the Chesapeake Bay being the nation’s largest). Unlike shallow-rooted turfgrass, deep-rooted native flowers and grasses significantly increase organic matter and the quality of soils. ...
... https://www.greenbiz.com/article/pollinator-friendly-solar-sites
Steve Levitsky, Brian Riddle, Dennis vanEngelsdorp and Albert Todd
Monday, May 15, 2017
Courtesy of: Fresh Energy
A critical opportunity is being largely overlooked on solar sites developed on farmland and outside of the desert Southwest — there has been too much focus on the hardware and not enough consideration of the vegetation under and around the panels.
Some folks don’t like living next to solar arrays, particularly when the array is "solar-centric" in design (gravel covering the site). Instead of solar-centric approaches, businesses can help local farms and lakes, streams and estuaries by encouraging co-benefit/low-impact solar designs that are planted with native flowering plants.
We support the development of new "pollinator-friendly" solar approaches, which bring with them potential agricultural, economic and environmental benefits.
Opportunities for agriculture
Pollinator habitat on solar sites is a common practice in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and is abundantly feasible wherever solar installations are replacing rowcrops. The practice simply uses a different seed mix — not turf grass — to create a low-growing and shade-tolerant flowering meadow. These flowering plants have many agricultural and ecological benefits. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that globally, 75 percent of food crops rely at least partially on pollination. Pollinator-friendly solar sites can bring pollinators into closer contact with food crops.
...
...
Improvement of soil and water quality
Instead of gravel or turfgrass, sites with properly designed native vegetation help capture nutrients in the soil and prevent the movement of nutrients into our lakes, streams and estuaries (the Chesapeake Bay being the nation’s largest). Unlike shallow-rooted turfgrass, deep-rooted native flowers and grasses significantly increase organic matter and the quality of soils. ...
... https://www.greenbiz.com/article/pollinator-friendly-solar-sites