Let’s look at the science in the tree vs. solar farm question
Brief text excerpt from an ecoRI News article by Brown University Prof. Stephen Porder. It may surprise you.
“The seemingly endless debate in Rhode Island about clearing trees to put up solar panels reared its head again in a recent column in ecoRI News by Frank Carini, who wrote that ‘Bulldozing trees to build utility-scale renewable energy facilities — 4 megawatts, in this case — essentially eliminates any of the project’s climate benefits.’ The article goes on to discuss very real concerns associated with clearing trees: loss of habitat, fragmentation of continuous forest, and water quality impacts.
‘‘I’ve studied forests all over the world for the past 20 years, and I share these concerns. I completely agree with Mr. Carini that ‘Rhode Island needs to get serious about protecting the environment.’ But let’s get the math right before we start the harder discussion about the tradeoffs that we have to make to address the climate crisis.’’