Do you know what really frosts my flakes?
Electric companies plowing under farmland to install solar panels.
I am back in my home state of Wisconsin and it breaks my heart to see hundreds of acres of lush, fertile cropland rendered useless by rows and rows of ugly solar panels.
Don’t get me wrong. I love solar power. My roof in Arizona has 15 solar panels on it and my electric bill is rarely more than $25 a month. In Arizona. In summer.
That’s because Arizona gets about 330 days of sunshine every year. The sun comes out every morning like it’s punching a time clock.
But Wisconsin? Give me a break.
Around here, it feels like winter starts in October and ends sometime around the Fourth of July. If it’s not snowing, it’s raining. If it’s not raining, it’s cloudy. These are not exactly ideal conditions for a giant, unsightly solar farm.
But, it is great conditions for growing food everyone in the world needs.
And here’s what really gets me. We have millions of square feet of rooftops sitting empty. Warehouses. Factories. Shopping centers. Schools. Government buildings.
Last time I checked, nobody was harvesting corn on top of a Walmart.
We also have endless acres of paved parking lots baking in the summer sun. Put solar canopies over those lots and people get shade for their cars while generating electricity. It’s a two-for-one deal.
Instead, they take some of the most productive farmland in America and cover it with bird-killing glass and steel.
Then the electric companies tell us it’s all about conservation.
I don’t think so!
These are the same government-subsidized monopolies that charge premium prices for electricity while replacing customer service departments with robots.
Every project gets announced with giant press conferences, glossy brochures and promises of a greener future.
Meanwhile, the average customer opens their electric bill and wonders if they accidentally financed the entire construction project.
At this point, I’m convinced half these solar farms exist so somebody can stand in front of a camera and point at thousands of panels while talking about sustainability.
Because if the goal was really maximizing solar production, we’d be covering rooftops and parking lots first.
You know, the places where food wasn’t growing in the first place.
But what do I know?
I’m Grandpa Grumpy, just an old guy who thinks farmland should be used to grow food and rooftops should be used to catch sunlight.