Every new car park may have to be covered with solar panels [UK] | Solar canopies would be compulsory under proposals estimated to save £28,000 on electricity bills at an 80-space car park
Every new car park may have to be covered with solar panels
My first thought is that this is dumb, since if this made actual financial sense, the car parks would already be doing this. So by creating an additional expense, what they are actually doing is disincentivizing the creating of car parks.
My second thought was: "good"
Financially, you can save money per year on electricity, but it means you'd have to pay an upfront for installation. Which probably maths out as a very long term investment that companies hate.
Hahaha, "save on electricity bills", sure that's totally what'll happen.
How large are electricity bills at car parks anyways?
My first thought was EV chargers, not that you'd be getting a discount from the solar there. The shade would be nice.
Lighting, cameras, automated gate/parking pass machines, etc.
Its not nothing.
The only thing I'll point out here is the urban heat island. It's a waste of space to put solar farms in viable farmland.
Then on top of that, you get to park your car I'm the shade (electric or gas). Even if you're "anti green technology" - why would you be against having a shady place to park your car?
Usually these solar arrangements are just feeding back into the grid to offset energy consumption for whoever owns them (or to make some money themselves), but it could in theory also directly supply local infrastructure like EV chargers, streetlights, other utility lines that draw power, etc.
I guess I'm of the opinion that this may as well be done. Parking lots are already terrible for the environment given that they just trap heat and, you know, take up valuable land space that could better be put to other uses. But if they're going to exist, may as well turn them into solar farms to offset their net burden somewhat.