[ukandy]

> About 80% of this commercial space is parking lots. It's wasted space. Why not use it to produce power?

You didn't get my point obviously. Parking spaces are to park on. When a car is on a parking space, it's blocking the light from tiles under it and also casting a shadow.

> Why use additional fertile or constructible terrain to add solar tiles?

Because they won't have cars park on them. They will also be at an optimal angle and cleaner.

[KevinBongart]

On a parking lot, not 100% is used by cars. Lots of space for driving/walking through and around.

The example above show the paring lot partially full with a lot of space for solar panel roads: https://goo.gl/maps/ZR5kNMZYGbE2

Also, in France, we're limited in farming space. Sure, it's going to go away eventually, while we outsource farming elsewhere, but replacing fields with solar panels is not as obvious of a tradeoff as it could be elsewhere in the world.

[cellularmitosis]

Why not just make covered parking, and put solar panels on top? Then you can just use "regular" solar panels, which will be a lot cheaper, last a lot longer, and produce a lot more electricity. Plus, covered parking! The additional structure will be costly, but I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up being the same total cost as the tiles.

[KevinBongart]

Good point!

[ukandy]

Why would you put them in the car park and not on the roof where they can be angled and unobstructed, with no new engineering challenges.

Sheep can still graze under the panels on farmland. Not that I'm advocating, farming sheep or using green fields for solar panels!

[weaksauce]

for parking lots you can build roofs to put them on. It adds shade and is never blocked by cars under them.

[paulddraper]

I also wouldn't recommend fertilizing your solar cells.