Solar is most famous for being a planet-saving addition to the roof of your home But it can help us meet our growing energy needs while creating a pathway to a clean energy future for us all solar has skyrocketed from generating just 0.57 per cent of the world’s energy to 5.52 per cent in 2023 makes solar an increasingly reliable and affordable energy option Here are key ways that solar energy is revolutionising farming practices around the world Agrivoltaics is the practice of combining solar energy generation and crop cultivation Here’s how –heat stress is a major threat to heat-sensitive plants like cereal but the shade provided by solar panels allows crops to thrive and for farmers to maximise their product Combining solar and growing crops is gaining global momentum and is already being used in Germany by farmers who are using solar panels to create shade for their orchards Research in Africa showed that solar panels shade crops from the extreme droughts and heat waves that are becoming more prevalent there due to climate change as well as more favourable growing conditions for crops making it a win-win for both the environment and farmers Solar panels are not just beneficial shade providers for crops Farmers are increasingly installing solar panels over grazing areas to provide shade for sheep and cattle The shaded areas help them stay cool during the summer months and helps sheep reduce their wool surface temperature by as much as 50 degree Fahrenheit healthier animals can lead to higher productivity Plus let’s not forget that a single cattle farts enough to release over 200 pounds of methane every year With methane’s warming power being 28 times greater than carbon dioxide supplying enough beef to meet global demand is accelerating climate change solar panels on farms can help the meat industry become more climate friendly as a farmer can harvest enough clean power to offset methane emissions from a cow with just 4.1 square metres of solar panels Making water management a critical issue for most farmers especially in areas facing periods of drought or inconsistent rainfall Solar offers farmers the opportunity to find ingenious ways to collect and conserve water One innovative off-gridder in Arizona has used his existing solar energy set up to conserve rainwater With the average temperature of Phoenix in July reaching a whopping 106 degrees Fahrenheit he found a simple way to save on his water bill by using his solar panels as funnels to direct run of water into basins that are positioned on the ground beneath the solar panels Rain runs off the solar panels and collects in these basins By not relying on expensive water or energy infrastructure Bigger farms can use similar collection techniques to redirect collected rainwater to thirsty crops A study in Jordan showed promising results with 444 litres of water collected off of just four square metres of solar panels over two months Every litre collected is a litre that does not have to be paid for or transported to the farm Water-collection systems like this make solar panels do double duty and save farmers money by taking advantage of rainy seasons to collect and store water for when it is needed most Pollinator gardens are an essential part of every healthy ecosystem But our precious pollinators are being lost at shocking rates with bee populations decreasing by 60 per cent over just 15 years One of the major drivers of this loss is climate change which will only worsen if we don’t transition away from climate-killing fossil fuels to renewable The second major threat that pollinators face is habitat loss Many people’s concerns with solar fields is that they create wasted land where nothing grows But solar farms do not need to be barren fields of panels they benefit from vegetation and ground cover Solar farms across the country are being turned into vibrant ecosystems that benefit local wildlife and farming communities Creating unlikely pollinator garden habitats that combat wildflower meadow losses caused by human development and which in turn has devastated bee numbers pollinator-friendly gardens are being planted underneath and around solar panels By growing pollinator-friendly plants in solar fields Thereby tackling both of the major threats to pollinators: climate change and habitat loss With the increasing variability of weather and the fragility of monoculture farming farmers can be financially devastated if just one year’s crops doesn’t produce the expected yield farmers have to choose between low–yield drought-resistant crops or increased yield volatility as one crop has lower overall potential and the other crop risks ending up with no yield at all Farmers are increasingly diversifying to keep their profit margins stable with many farming blogs recommending that farms open themselves up to tourism and field trips Solar energy can be another source of additional income acting as a solar profit safety net for farmers so they do not have to live yield-to-yield Farmers are turning their solar panels into a revenue-generating asset by selling the excess energy they produce back to the grid solar power can provide enough energy to power entire communities Colorado supplies electricity to over 300 homes This creates a new income stream for the farmer and contributes to the local community’s energy needs in a planet friendly way Solar energy and agriculture are proving their relationship is a mutually-beneficial one As technology improves and more farmers adopt solar solutions we can expect to see even more innovative applications emerge Solar energy is ushering in a new era of sustainable agriculture Kim Kraska is a media intern at EARTHDAY.ORG; this article has been reproduced from EARTHDAY.ORG blog. 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Sunny days in Germany mean gray clouds for solar profitability as the nation's dive into renewables has left it with too much energy According to a note from SEB Research solar producers have had to take an 87% price cut during production hours the price received was 9.1 euros per megawatt-hour significantly under the 70.6 euros paid during non-solar-power hours "This is what happens to power prices when the volume of unregulated power becomes equally big or bigger than demand: Prices collapse when unregulated power produces the most," the Swedish bank wrote on Tuesday Last year's record wave of solar installations are what's driving Germany's price "destruction" as inventory outpaces consumption While total solar capacity topped 81.7 gigawatts by 2023's end noted SEB chief commodities analyst Bjarne Schieldrop The difference between the two actually widens even more in the summer a season of peak production and lower demand.  This also means that consumers are not necessarily benefiting from the low prices as they typically consume more energy in non-solar hours.  Unless new installations are spurred on by subsidies or power purchase agreements oppressed profitability could eventually halt Germany's solar expansion focus is likely to move onto improvements that will make more use of the energy produced such as investments in batteries and grid infrastructure "This will over time exhaust the availability of 'free power' and drive solar-hour-power-prices back up," Schieldrop wrote "This again will then eventually open for renewed growth in solar power capacity growth." The supply-demand imbalance is neither a new issue for Germany nor is the country alone in experiencing it The European market has raced to install solar capacity through last year a move made urgent after Russia cut off its energy supplies to the continent this doesn't mean that consumers are reimbursed to use electricity Indices Commodities Currencies Stocks Solar panels are mounted on poles above a hops field near Au in der Hallertau Solar panels atop crops has been gaining traction in recent years as incentives and demand for clean energy skyrocket Solar panels are mounted poles above a hops field near Au in der Hallertau Solar panels are mounted on 20 feet (six meters) high poles above a hops field near Au in der Hallertau Germany (AP) — Bright green vines snake upwards 20 feet (six meters) toward an umbrella of solar panels at Josef Wimmer’s farm in Bavaria and in recent years has also been generating electricity with solar panels sprawled across 1.3 hectares (32 acres) of his land in the small hop-making town of Au in der Hallertau an hour north of Munich in southern Germany Beer-making hops can suffer if exposed to too much sun who’s managing the project’s solar component — and since there were already solar installations on the farm it made sense to give them a second purpose by mounting them on poles above the crops In addition to shielding plants from solar stress the shade could mean “water from precipitation lasts longer leaving more in the soil” and that “the hops stay healthier and are less susceptible to diseases,” Gruber said A scientific analysis of the benefits for the plants will be concluded in October The farm is working with researchers to understand how to get the balance right so the hops get enough shade and sunlight for the best harvests each year “You can get your renewables from the land that you do have covered and you don’t need to do these massive solar arrays on good agricultural land which is what you’ve tended to see around to date,” said Elinor Thompson a reader at Greenwich University who’s leading the research and her team are working with a fruit farm in Kent in southern England to make sure the plants also get the best out of solar structures especially in current conditions,” she said “We are assuming that British summers are going to get hotter we need to be efficient in all parts of agriculture.” Having shade where it’s useful and monitoring the effects of different arrangements of solar panels on a variety of crops will help the world prepare for a more climate-variable future Randle-Boggis said the systems can be used for “climate change resilience and a way of improving the growing environment for crops while also providing low carbon electricity.” He said that some of the crops under the partial shade of solar panels are using around 16% less irrigation The solar-covered farms saw increased yields for maize and while growers experienced lower yields for onions and sweet peppers they still had the added benefit of clean electricity generation But crop yields can also “vary depending on the weather conditions because we’re seeing the climate changing,” said Randle-Boggis although he added he was “really surprised and impressed with some of the results that we’re seeing” for solar-covered crops “Maize is grown by about 50% of farmers in Tanzania So the fact that we had an 11% yield increase in maize .. And Randle-Boggis said these projects can continue to be replicated around the world for many different crops as long as systems are “designed with the local context in mind.” A future with more crops under solar is Gruber’s hope for beer-making hops “At the end of the year we will set up another solar park over hops,” which will have about 10 times the electricity-generating potential as the current project “We’re getting lots of inquires from hop farmers,” he said You have heard of the corporate sustainability reporting directive or its acronym You know that it has something to do with the European Union but you haven’t paid it much attention because it’s far away You have heard of the corporate sustainability reporting directive or its acronym but you haven’t paid it much attention because it’s far away This new standard for disclosure reaches into some unlikely places for all companies that do business with the continent we’ll look at the impact on your corporate strategy the European Commission reaffirmed its commitment to the global ‘Net Zero 2050’ their goal is to be climate-neutral by 2050 – an economy with net zero greenhouse gas emissions an interim target was set to reduce emissions by at least 55 per cent by 2030 CSRD makes it plain that big companies must play their part in accomplishing these goals they are required to report their progress annually via certain templates But what does this have to do with a large company in Jamaica your firm may not have a European subsidiary And it may never reach the €40 million turnover or 250 employee lower limit for inclusion it may have wholesale customers on the continent it will probably be required by them to report on your conduct as a member of its supply chain I browsed Booking.com for a holiday stay in Ocho Rios there’s a new badge for each property to earn: a ‘travel sustainable level’ the programme was “introduced in 2021 to provide travellers with transparent and credible information to make more mindful choices for their trips” the intent of CSRD is already being realised It seeks to give stakeholders knowledge about each large company’s progress on goals such as Net Zero 2050 This new standard is likely to be seen by some as a nuisance particularly in the area of strategic planning the new standard mandates your company to tell the world how its strategy for topics related to ESG factors – environment It expects you to address this explicitly in your short you don’t have anything more than a five-year list of tactics As a result of upheavals since the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States firms have argued that they don’t have time for long-term thinking their energies have focused on basic survival – short-termism CSRD says that if you continue to indulge in this dangerous practice you will be required to highlight this fact to your stakeholders in your ESG disclosures or at least an excuse to do the right thing your company has two choices to meet the directive the ‘compliant low road’ consists of sticking to an approach of only keeping short-term business tactics This means that you will need a separate strategic plan for all matters ESG-related While some firms have hired sustainability professionals to do this very task some are calling it out as a form of greenwashing it’s probably just a way to be compliant without making fundamental changes the ‘transformational high road’ means crafting mid- and long-term strategic plans for your business if they don’t currently exist they should reach as far as 2050 to be completely aligned with the net-zero aspiration If your company already has a written long-term strategic plan then this may just be an exercise in adding a few different dimensions The CSRD is actually developed for companies like yours if it has never had an interwoven short-/long-term strategic plan You do have some time before this becomes a requirement The Securities Exchange Commission in the United States and the IFRS accounting standards body are expected to recommend similar reporting standards in line with existing requirements for financial disclosure It’s not too late to start getting your company ready Schedule time to prepare the right kind of interwoven short-/long-term strategic plans be prepared to answer the questions raised by CSRD but they will fit in with the thinking the EU Commission wants you to do When the time comes to complete the forms required for your CSRD reporting Francis Wade is a management consultant and author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity. 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