> requires 5.6 GW of solar energy. For context, this is roughly 10 days of solar panel production in 2021, though the industry continues to grow explosively. 5.6 GW consumes roughly 112 square km of land
the most popular solar panels are about 21% efficient
solar panels don't require maintenance, though efficiency drops if they get dusty
trees commonly require a lot of maintenance, i guess you don't know any gardeners; most afforestation and reforestation projects totally fail because they neglect this
but the biggest issue is that trees generally don't desalinate seawater
mangroves sort of do, but their output is water vapor, and generally growing mangroves in ocean water decreases evaporation from that ocean water rather than increasing it
in summary, how pv-powered desalination compares to just planting trees is that pv-powered desalination produces fresh water and planting trees doesn't
77pt77|3 years ago
No maintenance and they also sequester carbon.
All this seems to me like replacing trees with silicon and maybe that doesn't make sense.
kragen|3 years ago
the most popular solar panels are about 21% efficient
solar panels don't require maintenance, though efficiency drops if they get dusty
trees commonly require a lot of maintenance, i guess you don't know any gardeners; most afforestation and reforestation projects totally fail because they neglect this
but the biggest issue is that trees generally don't desalinate seawater
mangroves sort of do, but their output is water vapor, and generally growing mangroves in ocean water decreases evaporation from that ocean water rather than increasing it
in summary, how pv-powered desalination compares to just planting trees is that pv-powered desalination produces fresh water and planting trees doesn't