The Town of Woodland, NC, has rejected a proposal for a solar farm following public concerns that solar panels 'suck up all the energy from the sun'

[RagnarokDel]

http://www.thecybercolumn.com/2015/12/a-us-town-has-rejected-proposal-for.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-town-rejects-solar-panels-amid-fears-they-suck-up-all-the-energy-from-the-sun-a6771526.html

 

This part is particularly disturbing...
 

A retired science teacher, Jane Mann, expressed concerns that plants in the vicinity of the panels would not photosynthesize which would prevent the plants from growing.She also questioned the high number of cancer deaths in the area, saying no one could tell her that solar panels didn’t cause cancer.

This isnt how it works. Also Nobody can tell her that it causes cancer.
 

 

 

One local man, Bobby Mann said that businesses would stop going to Woodland, the community would suffer as a result and the farms would suck up all the energy from the sun, according to the Roanoke-Chowan News Herald.

“You’re killing your town,” he said. “All the young people are going to move out.”

They might be leaving on account of the ignorance too...

 

 

 

They told them “there are no toxic materials on site” and “this is a tried and true technology.”
The council gave the people what the wanted and voted 3-1 against rezoning the land and later voted for a moratorium on future solar farms. 

They can now use coal and gas, you know, the clean way to produce energy /s

 

[That_Random_Guy]

LOL... Just LOL. Its amazing how smart people are this day in age.

[LeonKennedy6]

Please excuse me while I jump out of the 13th story balcony.

[Mister Snow]

I have no words for this.

Just... wow

[PlayStation 2]

+1 autism

add 51

[Starelementpoke]

The fuck. I'd give anything for a solar farm to be set up in my town.

[Castdeath97]

Solar panels are not great for other reasons, which definitely don't include sucking up the Sun light (Why isn't the fact that the Sun is a bloody star that constantly releases energy for the rest of its life not general knowledge by now?).

[MourningSouls]

This is one of those times I wish I was God. I could give them one hell of a smack.

[Sidiox]

Fucking lol... This kind of stupidity is why the world is going to shit.

[Kobathor]

It's not like a solar cell farm is expensive and inefficient anyways. /s

[Castdeath97]

Ohh and please use a better source like this one instead, blogger based blogs are not the best source you know.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-town-rejects-solar-panels-amid-fears-they-suck-up-all-the-energy-from-the-sun-a6771526.html

[Nineshadow]

Yeah , those are a bit out of context.

And the town didn't reject the proposal for a solar farm , saying that "it would suck up all the energy from the sun". No. During a public comment , some respected town citizens expressed their opinions on the matter. One of them said this uh... idiocracy .

 

Actually , the whole thing is more than just that.

The Planning Board of the town proposed for a piece of land to be rezoned from Residential/Agricultural , to Manufacturing, to allow  Strata Solar Company to build a solar farm. The Town council denied the proposal , and implicitly the solar farm.

 

A few actual (semi-) valid arguments brought up during the public hearing :

 

She said her home is surrounded by solar farms and is no longer worth its value because of those facilities.

 

Jane Mann said she is a local native and is concerned about the plants that make the community beautiful.

She is a retired Northampton science teacher and is concerned that photosynthesis, which depends upon sunlight, would not happen and would keep the plants from growing. She said she has observed areas near solar panels where the plants are brown and dead because they did not get enough sunlight.

 

She also questioned the high number of cancer deaths in the area, saying no one could tell her that solar panels didn’t cause cancer.

 

The town would not benefit from the solar farms because they are not located within the town limits, but only in the extraterritorial sections.

The only funding the town would get is about $7,000 per year to train the fire department in case something goes wrong.

 

The power generated would go directly into the electrical grid and would not reduce Woodland’s power bills.

[ThinkWithPortals]

Wait, that woman was a science teacher? People like that should not be allowed near our children.

 

This isn't funny, just a bit sad.

[Tmt97]

I don't even know what to say to this, other than that these people should not be able to vote. I'm a fan of democracy and all that, but if I didn't know shit about a topic, then I wouldn't be voting on it. Democracy only works if people actually know what they are talking about, so either read up, or shut up.

[Daegun]

And people wonder why I say that a pure democracy is an awful, terrible idea.

[Castdeath97]

Yeah , those are a bit out of context.

 

A few actual (semi-) valid arguments :

I don't think the second quote is valid

[Nineshadow]

I don't think the second quote is valid

That's why I said "semi".

It could be , but it probably isn't.

[Fred Castellum]

And people wonder why I say that a pure democracy is an awful, terrible idea.

Lack of feasible knowledge and basic factual education is what I see as the main problem.

[DarkBlade2117]

My PC froze from so much stupidity. It legit froze when i clicked on the post

[LeapFrogMasterRace]

Give me a few minutes to read the title

[Ghostay]

+1 autism

Calling everyone who is uneducated "Autistic" is wrong, Not all people with Autism are retarded like you suggest, think before you attribute everyone with a born disorder to plain stupidity.

[Castdeath97]

That's why I said "semi".

It could be , but it probably isn't.

Not even semi, not even 1%. She didn't carry any research on cancer rates (obviously she is just a teacher) so it's obvious bias. And the sun releases energy constantly you can't really use it up yourself (unless you somehow manage to pull it directly from the sun).

[Legion]

Lack of feasible knowledge and basic factual education is what I see as the main problem.

 

I was curious what you would think about this story.

[Nineshadow]

Yeah , the title is kinda clickbait.

[Nineshadow]

Not even semi, not even 1%. She didn't carry any research on cancer rates (obviously she is just a teacher) so it's obvious bias. And the sun releases energy constantly you can't really use it up yourself (unless you somehow manage to pull it directly from the sun).

There could be some dangerous materials used in some solar farms , and those could cause cancer. Who knows. Still , that's probably not the case.

 

And I don't think it's about the solar panels using energy that would otherwise be used by plants. Rather , I think that plants near the solar farms aren't doing to well simply because of the local environment. Yet again, there could be some dangerous materials there. Or there could be a lack of some minerals , water , etc. It's semi-valid.