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by nico_h 337 days ago
Yes.

The side effects of solar panels is indeed a cooler ground underneath. Plants have difficulty growing in the shade.

Panels have a darker shade than most ground they are covering, so they might actually absorb more heat than the typical ground they are covering. They are distorting the local albedo.

I think for geocooling by solar panels shade, the effect is completely local and only surface deep. After all stone/ground is an insulator, and geothermal energy is considered renewable.

1 comments

If anything on average solar panels will warm the earth, because they are on average darker than whatever they're covering. (this effect is much less than due to CO2)