Climate Change

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While I was researching the Korean solar parking lots, I found this gem of information – solar over a bike path on the highway. As Boulder County just built a bike path connecting my city with the city of Boulder, also running in the center of the highway, this sure would have been a nice addition. Maybe some day.

Sep 25, 2022  A 5.5-mile bike lane, topped with a solar panel, produces clean energy while connecting cities in South Korea.

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Wrapping up the solar discussion is the continued studies and good news on bifacial solar panels. NREL has a great description of the pros and cons of these. One of their key advantages is they can be installed vertically and tests have shown that provides excellent energy gains. Add snowy conditions and suddenly instead of losing energy on snowy/cloudy days, you can gain energy with both vertical and angled installations.

 

Bifacial Solar Advances with the Times—and the Sun

Multi-Year Study Evaluates Two-Sided Tracking Systems for More Efficient Solar Power Generation

Traditional solar modules convert light to electricity using photovoltaic (PV) cells on the top side of the panels. Now, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) researchers are shining a light on what lies beneath.

In May 2019, a team at NREL kicked off a three-year study to evaluate bifacial modules that collect light on both sides of a panel while also following the sun throughout the day. The key benefit of bifacial panels is obtaining more power production without expanding system footprints or reconfiguring the panels too much.

Early results show a significant boost from the bifacial panels. Data from June through November 2019 revealed up to a 9% gain in energy production using bifacial panels compared with their one-sided cousins.

“The cells themselves are pretty much the same price,” Chris Deline, NREL researcher and principal investigator on the study said. “You’re going to a slightly more expensive package. You have to do something different on the backside—either glass or clear, transparent plastic. On the whole, it’s going to be less than 10% more cost.”

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In the study’s first year, Deline’s team is testing natural ground cover. They will follow by adding crushed rock in the second year, and Deline said they are considering rolling out some kind of white fabric for a third comparison.

“We’re seeing that as the grass turns brown, it gets more reflective,” Deline said. “And snow cover is great.”

With snow on the ground, when average albedo is several times more reflective than grass, all tested panels hit their highest recorded gains.

The entire article is worth a read here.

 

Projects With Everyday Dave spent a year collecting data on the best ways to install solar panels, both mono and bi facial styles. You can find his video series here:

Projects With Everyday Dave Description: This is a collection of all the solar panel testing I’ve done over the years. Ground VS Roof, Bifacial VS Standard, Large VS Small, South VS East VS West, Vertical VS Angled. Enjoy!

And I’ll wrap up with the AMP grazing trend:

When Peter Byck took money from McDonalds to continue his project Roots So Deep, he got a lot of grief for it. But guess what, his belief that involving one of the largest purchasers of beef in his project would result in changes in their corporate attitude toward farming and beef production seems to have been spot on.

McDonald’s USA Makes Company’s Largest-Ever Investment in Regenerative Agriculture through National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Partnership

By supporting this initiative, McDonald’s USA aims to help accelerate the implementation of regenerative grazing principles among US-based beef cattle producers.

CHICAGO (Sept. 15, 2025) – Beef has been at the core of McDonald’s menu and identity since it first opened its doors 70 years ago.
Today, McDonald’s USA is announcing its participation in an initiative that helps demonstrate its continued commitment to responsible beef sourcing and stewardship of natural resources.

McDonald’s USA is excited to unveil its largest investment in regenerative agriculture to date with the launch of the Grassland Resilience and Conservation Initiative, along with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) as well as key McDonald’s U.S. suppliers.

This initiative will invest more than $200 million over the next seven years to help promote and accelerate regenerative grazing practices, habitat restoration, water and wildlife conservation on cattle ranches spanning 4 million acres across up to 38 states. Through the Grassland Resilience and Conservation Initiative, participating ranchers will have the opportunity to leverage tools and resources to help them improve wildlife habitats, conserve water, and enhance soil health. McDonald’s USA also believes that this initiative will help boost its U.S. supply chain resilience, including by providing participating ranchers economic returns such as incentive payments.

Be as cynical as you want – I’ll remain positive that while profit is a motivator, change comes when companies see the advantage to their bottom line and climate initiatives will always be more profitable despite possible up front costs. Especially as climate change makes the old way much more expensive, what with crops dying, insurance costs rising, energy costs rising. YMMV

Speaking of Carbon Cowboys, Peter Byck and crew have aimed their sights on the US military complex and veterans

Okay, that’s a wrap for this post. And for those wondering, yes I did buy the Ioniq 5, and as I told the Blogfather yesterday, I have only driven it 14 miles, so it will be at least a week or so before I have anything of worth to say about it.

Santa* was good to me this year. My very first fully EV SUV – Ioniq 5 (my Niro SUV was a PHEV…like training wheels for the EV curious).*Unfortunately, Santa also left the payment book under the tree.

— AnnieD (@anniedemoranville.bsky.social) 2025-12-27T18:55:36.875Z

I will say that the resale value on my Kia plug-in Hybrid was the only reason I could make the switch right now. But more on that in a later post, too.

This is a good news open thread. Do not make me pull this blog over and chastise, pie or otherwise block you with your negativity. Plenty of other posts for that available.

Cheers!