110
Japan Has No Space for Solar Farms Apart From Old Golf Courses (www.bloomberg.com)
submitted 3 weeks ago by to c/energy@slrpnk.net
25 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The result is that a relic of Japan’s economic bubble is playing an unlikely role in the country’s energy transition. For the past decade, defunct golf courses have been vital to solar growth. About 9% of Japan’s utility-scale solar capacity is on former golf courses, according to an analysis of a BloombergNEF data that includes arrays with capacity of 0.9 megawatts or greater.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 52 points 3 weeks ago (10 children)

What about on the top of buildings? Over parking lots ect? Any time you shade a black top it really helps with heat soak

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 10 child comments
    •
  • [–] 20 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

    You do have to be careful though, sometimes those tarpaper roofs are trying to keep heat inside the building, or trying to keep lines from freezing in the winter.

    That being said, there's plenty of places in Japan where you could throw up a canopy of solar panels tied into the grid.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (5 children)

    Railways :-)

    Edit: https://www.sun-ways.ch/en Already in test in Swiss

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 3 weeks ago (3 children)

    150km/h is high speed? The Japanese will laugh you out of the room. And the prototype is designed for just 70km/h.

    They will shake apart if proper trains run over them.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 3 weeks ago

    Yes. I'm sure that will be the way they go in the end. But businesses want to do it as cheap as possible. Make a quick buck for the lowest possible costs as usual. On roofs is a little more complex. Legislation is probably needed.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent