this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
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Today I Learned

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Besides we can still use that same land for crops with agrivoltaics

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[–] kboos1@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

I do agree, if we remove the problem then there's no need for the solution. If we didn't have to worry the sudden expansion of electric vehicles and large data centers. But would we not be exchanging one problem for another? A lot of cities were not built with future public transportation in mind so building railways and bus routes then changing how people travel might be just as hard as getting electricity from rural areas.

I also agree that the farmers would plant another crop. But covering the land with solar panels is just impractical. The reason these farms are located where they are is because turning it into biofuel crops is easy, inexpensive, and the land probably isn't worth doing anything else with. Turning it into food crops would depend on climate and demand.

Either way, as a society, we have several immediate problems and you're right there isn't one way to solve them. I just felt that tiny patches of land spread out all over the world would generate enough power and get it to where it needs to be for everyone to have electric cars just seemed like a silly idea when there's much simpler and faster ways to get power where it's needed the most.

Especially since I'm an electrical engineer that works for a company that specializes in energy management, building controls, and engineering sustainablility into buildings. So I'm actively working on these things that are theory to most of the people here.