What would be better to cover parking lots, trees or solar panels?

[patsparks]

This is a view of Adelaide, where I live, well actually I live a little out of shot to the left.

You might notice there are a lot of trees and I like this about Adelaide.

This is another city, where have all the trees gone?

I know which one I find more appealing.

I have about 15 trees over 5 metres high, that is higher than my house on my block and lots of smaller trees and shrubs. I love my trees and I don't like looking at roofs or barren car parks.

[Nords]

Solar Suspension Systems

[Godiva]

San Diego plants trees in the easement between the road and sidewalk everywhere. There are more in other areas. But all must be watered. We're an arid area. And...land is at a premium. To plant trees in the midst of all of the rows of a parking lot would require both irrigation and would lose considerable parking space. To put the Solar Grove over the parking lots wouldn't lose that many spaces. And there would still be trees surrounding the lot, and in the easements. Some streets even have them in the median.

Trees to offer their own danger too. A woman was killed in her car driving down the freeway by a tree that fell on her. It was because we had had so much rain the ground couldn't hold the tree and it just fell over. It was in the three mile scenic drive on 163 south through Balboa Park, which has a LOT of trees. Some of them have been removed. Then there was the huge tree branch that just broke off a big Ficus in Balboa Park and totaled three cars. At least no one was in them. But imagine getting out of the play at the Old Globe and finding your car has been flattened by that shade tree you parked under. Every year the winds topple over a eucalyptus that someone hasn't had cut back. They're shallow rooted here and when it rains and then we get wind the soft ground just can't hold them.

I like trees. I really do. I just planted two apples, an apricot, tangerine, orange and lime. I'll be putting in another apricot and I have an ornamental plum in the front. But I do think a solar grove is more practical for some of the huge parking lots. San Diego is ideal for PV and we should be covering everything, houses, business buildings AND parking lots with PV. And putting in gutters and rain collection for gray water. And recycling. And doing desalinization.

[patsparks]

Here trees are planted in the corners of spaces, where 4 spaces touch at the corner. Species which require little water and don't grow all that high are normally selected, often eucalyptus like bottle brushes. These are not deciduous but in our climate and with less than 25% shaded ground, there isn't really a problem with too much shade in winter. Also the small hard waxy leaves which fall all year don't harm local waterways.

My thought was, put the solar panels on the roof and the trees in the car park because doing it the other way around is a lot harder.

[pewd]

there are other issues. pavement has a big impact on adsorbtion of rainwater, stormwater runoff, etc.

how about a mix, solar panels up higher, with low height trees, shrubs, etc beneath.
20' solar panels above, 15' trees below? something like that?

better - oh, pewd's gonna get radical - you pay a carbon tax everytime you pave over a lot - and a carbon credit if you put in solar planels or trees, or raingardens or the like. let folks trade carbon credits - then let the free market sort it out.

what was that stuff someone put on their driveway - plantable concrete mats? how about credits for using that stuff underneath the solar arrays ? then some of the rainwater soaks in instead of running off into the storm sewers...

[KayakerNC]

Originally Posted by pewd

there are other issues. pavement has a big impact on adsorbtion of rainwater, stormwater runoff, etc.

Airports and military air bases pretty much create their own weather systems.
Parking lots....not so much.
But you've got to start somewheres.

[pewd]

yup, we have to start somwhere.
how much acerage is paved over in your typical wallmart?
all our stores, resturants, malls, strip centers, huge amount of pavement
heres what i was looking for earlier driveable pavement
you could also put small wind turbines up on a higher layer - above the solar cells

but folks won't do it until its profitable to do so - we need systems in place to make it economically advantageous to put in systems of this nature.

[richard schumacher]

So you are saying no one in the good ol USA won't attempt the store at low charge thinking they can fill up while shopping? (this discussion has nothing to do with a full or partial charge, but with defective charging units and the people who unrealistically depend on this charge) If so, you misunderstand the public.

Sure, it will happen. A few people will occasionally run out and get stuck, and they will curse God, Man, and their fate, and call AAA or their brothers-in-law for a tow, just as happens today with doofusses in gasoline fueled cars. It's silly to argue that that inevitability is a reason not to provide the outlets.

[patsparks]

I thought this thought deserved its own post.
Put the solar panels on the roof and the trees in the car park because doing it the other way around is a lot harder.

[F8L]

I'm going to give my gut feeling opinion before I read all the replies here and learn something. LOL

I would say given our current energy situation a mixture of the two would be the best idea. Solar arrays in the main portion of the lot with a scattering of small trees (under 15" or so) then line the draining edges of the lot, when possible, with a bio-swale to catch, absorb, and detoxify polluted rainwater runoff before it enters storm water drains. How's that for a pipe dream? You get energy production, localized climate mitigation, partial habitat creation and pollution control.

Solar arrays have the benefit of not producing sap that falls onto your sparkling clean car too. Just have to avoid creating nesting sites for pigeons though.