Can't create a native poll here so I'm linking a strawpoll but Would you rather have: 1 - Shade trees 2 - A roof good for solar strawpoll.com/YVyPvd4r7gN - ThreadSky

wombat-ee.bsky.social • 90 days ago

Can't create a native poll here so I'm linking a strawpoll but
Would you rather have:
1 - Shade trees
2 - A roof good for solar

https://strawpoll.com/YVyPvd4r7gN

Comments

quercus48.bsky.social•90 days ago

More trees and ground based solar. I have room for both

solenodon.bsky.social•90 days ago

Both!

It's possible to have solar panels (which shade the roof) and also shade trees that shade the sides of the house (windows) but don't block the sun.

wombat-ee.bsky.social•90 days ago

Oh yeah I'm not saying it's impossible. But if you find a house with existing backyard shade trees, more than likely they're shading way more than just the yard and back wall. Shading the roof was part of the goal any time before reasonably priced solar panels existed.

mpdaves.bsky.social•89 days ago

It really depends on where. In my neighborhood, trees. In parking lots, solar since trees probably can’t cover as much of that area. If we could make parking lots a lot smaller and make cars less necessary then it’s probably trees.

tomek-here.bsky.social•89 days ago

Trees, if they're deciduous - then I can use solar power in the winter, just without the extra steps of converting into electricity.

Assuming the windows are insulated well enough to be net heat sources in the winter of course.

jakeythesnakey.bsky.social•90 days ago

I want a heat pump, but the only way it pencils out is if we also go solar

solenodon.bsky.social•90 days ago

I think penciling out needs to include the cost of ongoing climate change, as in ~$100 billion in damages in one week in just one city.

wombat-ee.bsky.social•90 days ago

Unfortunately without a carbon tax, that doesn't factor into a regular person's cost calculation. I'm in the market for a house now and most of them have gas furnaces, and even though I care quite a bit about climate change, that's not getting replaced with a heat pump until it breaks because $$$.

solenodon.bsky.social•90 days ago

Yes. That's the assumption of most contractors, that regular people only consider $$$.

wombat-ee.bsky.social•90 days ago

Well for me I'm just looking at how empty my bank account is going to be after downpayment and closing costs and realizing that I'm gonna be relatively cash-poor for at least a while after moving in.

jakeythesnakey.bsky.social•90 days ago

Ditto

tedos.bsky.social•90 days ago

We have a great roof for solar and I am choosing trees that get big enough for shade but not so big they shade the solar. Win-win!

wombat-ee.bsky.social•90 days ago

Yep definitely doable if you plan ahead. But if they’re existing trees your options are limited unless you want to tear them out and start fresh.

lukeodea.bsky.social•89 days ago

Solar (and storage) at the 100MW++ scale, trees for the community

a-g-benson.bsky.social•89 days ago

okay but hear me out: utility-scale trees

mssummerblossom.bsky.social•90 days ago

Why is this an either or?

wombat-ee.bsky.social•90 days ago

Shade generally has a pretty large negative impact on solar production, so if your shade trees shade your roof, that makes it significantly less ideal for solar.

mssummerblossom.bsky.social•90 days ago

We probably think of different houses and trees, but I kinda get your idea.

wombat-ee.bsky.social•90 days ago

Yeah the image in my head is tall evergreens and a single-story house (fairly typical in the suburbs around where I live).

mssummerblossom.bsky.social•90 days ago

Got you. USA, right?

I was tinking Europe. 🙂

wombat-ee.bsky.social•90 days ago

Yep, Oregon, USA.

wearegonnafindout.bsky.social•90 days ago

Locally native shade trees, oaks if you've got em, and a community solar subscription

wearegonnafindout.bsky.social•90 days ago

I will pile on and guess that removing mature trees to make way for sun to hit a roof is prob not the right move in terms of carbon math. That tree is now going to release carbon when it otherwise would have kept sequestering it. And you could've gotten community solar (depending on where you live).

wearegonnafindout.bsky.social•90 days ago

How new large-scale solar is sited matters too - ideally it would not entail bulldozing forest and would instead be on abandoned or co-planted ag land, currently in use pasture, or previously developed property. But that's a whole other level of decision.

wombat-ee.bsky.social•90 days ago

Could probably also install a less-than-ideal solar system (north facing) if your south or west section of roof ends up shaded most of the time. Though that would depend on module and install prices whether it would pencil out or not.

wombat-ee.bsky.social•90 days ago

Yeah I'd totally be down with some native deciduous trees. Shade in the summer, let the sun in in the winter.

mopsypennwood.bsky.social•90 days ago

Exactly!

wombat-ee.bsky.social•90 days ago

Power's pretty cheap where I live so I'd kinda lean towards shade trees personally. Being able to use my backyard in the summer (and have my AC work less hard to keep the inside cool) would be nice.

kevinleecaster.bsky.social•90 days ago

Solar panels shade roofs though too.

Having my buildings be net-zero is my main interest personally.

wombat-ee.bsky.social•90 days ago

Shades the roof maybe. Not the back wall, not any seating or entertainment space you have out there. My parents' house has a roof that would be perfect for solar and a backyard that's completely unusable because it's like 115 degrees back there in the summer.

kevinleecaster.bsky.social•90 days ago

wombat-ee.bsky.social•90 days ago

My parents have a pergola, it makes a very small portion of the backyard semi-usable when the sun is at the right angle. The rest still cooks from the sun and reflected heat/sun off the side of the 2-story house.

kevinleecaster.bsky.social•90 days ago

I've had one building burn up in a wildfire and a tree fall on another building. I'm a fan of trees for sure as you could tell from my family farm going back to forest, but I'm not a fan of having them next to my buildings.

harrisberton.bsky.social•90 days ago

I don't think this goal makes much sense - the grid is incredibly efficient. No issues with rooftop solar if folks want to pay for it, but in general I think distributed gen makes more sense at commercial scales/settings.

kevinleecaster.bsky.social•90 days ago

Glad to hear that your buildings are all on 100% clean grids.

scottwahlstrom.bsky.social•90 days ago

Solar needs to go somewhere. Open space is undervalued. Let’s develop rooftops to support that clean grid please.

harrisberton.bsky.social•90 days ago

Plenty of space for this sort of thing if the benefits to the grid are there. Parking canopies and commercial rooftops have a lot of space. Just not sure we need to emphasize residential roofs, which are the most expensive type of install.

mopsypennwood.bsky.social•90 days ago

What I have is neighbors with 100 year old shade trees. They might outlive me, but until they're gone, I'm doing solar in other ways - e.g. through a co-op.

harrisberton.bsky.social•90 days ago

100% always shade trees.

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