#sb100

[sudden-stops-kill]

sb100...2017011

[echoforcenter1]

Dietrich hosting open lobby Modello Springs Speedway tonight at 7:00 PM UPDATE: 30-minute Warm-up race announced for 3:30 PM

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[echoforcenter1]

Collin Hgammell, Racecraft Motorsports team up for SelecBrand 100

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[urp4370-blog]

Solar Energy Farms (Research Essay 1)

Living in the 21st century, electricity is a heavily used commodity by people all over the world- especially in the United States. According to the United States Energy Information Administration, primary energy consumption in the United States reached a record high of 101.3 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in 2018, up 4% from 2017 and 0.3% above the previous record set in 2007. The heavily reliance on fossil fuels, such as petroleum, natural gas, oil, and coal, has expedited the amount of greenhouse gasses that get emitted every year. Therefore, to ease us off our dependency on fossil fuels, renewable forms of energy have become more popular. Renewable energy has really taken off and experienced significant growth thanks to energy policy making, technological innovation, rising fossil fuels prices, and global pressure to reduce climate change impacts. One of the most well-known sources of renewable energy is the thing that sustains life on earth- the sun.

Solar is not a new concept- humans have been utilizing the sun for centuries as a main source for light and heat. As technology developed, humans learned to capture and use the sun’s power for a something different: a source of energy. Rooftop solar panels are a great way for individual households to become more environmentally-friendly, but to maximize the amount of energy from the sun and provide renewable energy on a larger scale, solar farms seem more appropriate. Solar farms, also known as photovoltaic power stations, are usually massive decentralized arrays that supply electricity to the power grid. More often than not, these farms are owned by utility companies, such as SoCal Edison, who use it as additional source of energy within their coverage area. Solar farms perform the same function as rooftop solar panels, except it covers a more extensive area of land. Like every other infrastructure system in America, solar farms require a large area of space to build upon.

Land scarcity is the biggest issue when dealing with solar farms, especially in a country with over 300 million people. Infrastructure dedicated to solar presents trade-offs for land used for agriculture or wildlife. But solar is a promising source of energy, so researchers have started to think outside the box to look for ways to expand this infrastructure. Hoffacker et al explores the less traditionally-explored areas of land as opportunity for new solar farm developments. Areas include the built environment, salt-affected land, contaminated land, and water reservoirs. The Central Valley of California takes up 15% of the state’s land, and of that, 8,415-square kilometers were identified as a potential site for solar energy development.

Besides looking for underutilized areas of land to develop, solar farms also have the potential to be integrated into the pre-existing agricultural landscape without negatively impacting or limiting the amount of goods these farms can produce. They can be placed anywhere within the agricultural landscape, such as along the perimeter of fields, on top of farm rooftops, or corners of pivot irrigation fields, and still work effectively in producing solar energy. Farms themselves can benefit from solar by reducing their own energy costs. Borchers at al explains that electricity represents around 18% of total energy consumed on-farm and 2.5% of average farm expenditures. Because solar farms collect energy from the sun, they can use a portion of that power towards their own expenditures. Generating electricity on-site alloes farms to use renewable forms of energy, which lessens the amount of fossil-fuel types of energy they consume. As farms continue to evolve and become more modern, solar farms will become more prevalent. Solar energy is already the most prevalent source of energy production. According to Borchers, there is estimated to be approximately 7,968- or 93%- farms that utilize solar energy generation. They benefit on relying on solar energy because by consuming less nonrenewable energy sources, they are simultaneously reducing their own carbon footprint. In addition, the cost-benefit analysis of having solar on farms means that they actually save on their energy bills every year. This can be an attractive option to farms who have not yet converted into solar farms, especially in places where sunshine is prevalent. The amount of energy production produced by each farm varies upon its location. The majority of solar farms are located in California, Texas, and Colorado. It was estimated that the average energy production capacity in North Dakota, Oklahoma and Kansas produced under 500 kilo watts. Meanwhile, solar farms in California, New Jersey, and Delaware were able to produce a much more substantial amount of energy production before it reached capacity, which was estimated at 11,000 kilo watts. So depending on their geographic location, farms can determine whether or not their energy production capacity will be worth implementing solar into their landscape.

Of course, much like other major infrastructure development projects, solar farms have not always received a positive reaction from the general public. Massive projects such as solar farms are hard to ignore in a land where ‘NIMBY-ism’ reigns supreme. The main arguments, according to Weeb et al, against solar farms have usually pertained to issues with visual impacts on scenic areas and wild landscapes. Wind farms face the same criticism, as many people complain that these renewable energy developments ruin the aesthetic of the surrounding environment.

Aside from worries about aesthetic depletion, critics of solar farms worry about the cost of these developments. People who live near solar farms are concerned that it may negatively impact their home property values, being situated so close to an ‘undesirable’ development. Impacts on tourism, employment, and agricultural production are additional issues they are concerned with. Glare off solar panels are a unique issue that critics of solar farms are concerned with.

Before the early 1990s, the arrangement of electricity supply had traditionally been from centralized conventional power sources. Since then, our energy supply has transitioned to increasingly visible, decentralized renewable energy sources, including solar farms. Despite receiving high public approval ratings (80-87% approval rating), the implementation of these renewable energy technologies have been opposed by the public. Since renewable energy sources have only been introduced in the 21st century, it is still a relatively new infrastructure that some people are not familiar with. They may know the concept behind renewable energy, but do not give much consideration to its actual implementation.

Solar farms are a good first step towards integrating renewable energy into the existing landscape but there is still room for improvement. Currently, these farms consist of solar panels spread across the landscape, positioned to face the sun to absorb its energy. Patel et al explores the idea of bifacial solar farms. These panels absorb energy through both sides of the panel, thus maximizing its absorption capacity. These bifacial solar panels are expected to increase its energy yield, but there are still some issues in relation to its design and cost-effectiveness. Bifacial solar panels is an underdeveloped technology so it has not quite reached the point where it can be distributed country-wide. They have shown to have approximately a 50% increase in energy production when compared to mono-facial panels. These promising innovations, if developed correctly, can potentially double the amount that current solar panels can absorb. The International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaic (ITRPV) predicts that the worldwide market share for bifacial technology will increase to 40% by 2028.

It is important to note that solar farms should be placed in areas that receive lots of sun, but there are other factors that need to be considered as well. When modeling for solar farms, several things must be measured before it can be deemed fit to become a solar farm. Jason et al states that aside from the number of sun hours a certain location receives per day, irradiance and temperature must also be taken into account in order to maximize potential. Certain other geographic locations, such as land cover or vegetation that increases shading, access to highways for maintenance and repair of solar panels, population density, and location of substations also determine whether or not farms should go solar. The most ideal land cover for solar farms are areas that contain short vegetation, which include prarie, shrubs, grasses, lagged areas, barren land, or other types of vegetation that do not block the sun from getting absorbed into the solar panels.

Another technology has been introduced to further increase the production of solar energy without impeding on large amounts of land for development. Wadhawan et al explains that an approximately 181-square meter of land area is required for solar per person to meet energy demands in the United States. To reduce the amount of land required by solar farms, Source 6 introduces a lesser-known technology: solar noise barrier systems. They preform the same function as solar farms, except in the form of a noise barrier. The solar panels on noise barrier systems are mounted in a different structure and have fewer ways to orient themselves because of the way they are positioned. When compared to solar farms, they may not be able to capture as much sun due to their tilt angle. Therefore solar noise barriers have more limitations than solar farms.

Solar farms have a promising future when it comes to renewable energy infrastructure. They can be placed in more remote areas of land, like the built environment, or they can be integrated within the landscape of existing agricultural lands. So many farms in the United States have already seen the benefits of solar, as they are able to use solar energy to provide energy on their own landscapes and therefore save money on electricity. Like other infrastructure projects, they face criticism in that these projects ‘obstruct’ the views of nature and ruin the aesthetic. Solar farms are selected based on how much sun they are able to produce in order to maximize the capacity to capture solar energy. And finally, new technologies, such as bifacial solar farms and solar noise barriers, have been introduced as ways to further the capabilities that solar can perform.

[scy-chicago]

Talking Implementation, Schools, and VOYCE

This week’s blog is written by Dion McGill, SCY Communications and Community Outreach Manager. 

I’m an avid podcast listener.  You could say I have a bit of a problem.  Currently, I’m subscribed to close to 40 podcasts.  

I know...I know....and no, I don’t have time to listen to them all.  But that doesn’t stop me from trying.  I enjoy hearing a plethora of conversations and ideas, and my podcast likes are exceptionally eclectic. 

However, a colleague made a suggestion of a podcast and I had up until that point not heard of, IL Informed.  Hosted by poet, activist, and researcher Glenance Green and former state legislator and gubernatorial candidate Daniel Biss, IL Informed is a discussion on Illinois politics, government, and how all of that actually works...or is supposed to work as some would say. 

Coincidentally, one of our partner youth groups, Voice of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE), came up in a discussion on the “Implementation” episode of the podcast.  Specifically, the conversation broached SB 100, which is a bill focused on exclusionary disciplinary practices.  

To quote VOYCE’s website:

“The effort to pass SB 100 was led by VOYCE (Voices of Youth in Chicago Education), a group of mostly high school students from Chicago. They created the bill in 2012 to address the impact of out-of-school suspensions and expulsions on their peers and schools. For over two years, dozens of students traveled regularly to the Capitol in Springfield to educate their legislators on how disciplinary practices were pushing students out of school and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.”

Last week, VOYCE was recipient of the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago’s Hope & Courage Award, specifically Community Advocate Award. It’s really interesting to hear the discussion about SB 100 and VOYCE both from the perspective of a fellow activist and a former legislator. 

I encourage you to check out the episode here.  The discussion about VOYCE and SB 100 starts shortly after the 18:00 mark, but I the whole episode is worth listening to.  

Speaking of police officers in schools, did you also catch this recent article by the Chicago Sun Times on the topic? 

Lightfoot renews threat to remove Chicago police officers from Chicago Public Schools - Chicago Sun-Times                             

Definitely take a look at this article.  As a former public school teacher, I’m intrigued as to how this will play out over the summer.  

As they say, time will tell. In the meantime, what are your thoughts on School Resource Officers? Should they be taken out of schools?  If not, what should training for those officers look like?   Also, if you have any podcast recommendations, send them our way.  

[thecycleshack]

[johnkmelvin]

Damn Proud to be a native Californian. #peoplepower #Repost @350org with @get_repost ・・・ BREAKING: California just passed a historic bill for 100% clean energy by 2045. #SB100 is a huge victory for the state and sets a precedent around the world. This is a victory for our movement, environmental justice, health and much more. When we fight we win, with or without Trump. We’re rising again in 10 days to show our strength and keep up the momentum. We will rise to make sure Governor Brown signs this bill into law. Huge congrats to the many organizers who put their heart and soul into making this happen. Together we are unstoppable. #RiseforClimate (at Paonia, Colorado) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnEW8e7FQWH/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1fuxyzo0peqvn

[sonofoshun]

#SB100 passed! Thank you @medina4assembly and @teameloisereyes for your yes votes. @asmcervantes, abstaining from voting on bills that move our state forward is NOT how you win elections! https://www.instagram.com/p/BnC4PU9j66_/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1l0oioqtgz64s