Humor: Solar Panels Could Suck Up Suns!

Steven Lake

http://www.weather.com/news/video/man-fears-solar-panels-could-suck-up-suns-energy

I thought you guys would get a chuckle out of this one.

Iceni John

Do idiots like that ever stop to think what impression they are giving the rest of the planet about this country?  Like it or not, the age of instant worldwide communication is here, so the actions of one idiot (or an entire town of them) can be disseminated to the entire planet's population almost immediately.   So sad.

John 

BB.

Not sure that is a good summation of what happened... Here is what the town says:

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/117093/20151216/north-carolina-town-didn-t-ban-solar-panels-sucking-up.htm

According to Woodland Town Clerk Kim Bryant, the town, which already has three solar farms, was considering zoning a fourth segment of land for another field of solar panels. They ultimately voted against the zoning, after receiving a widely circulated petition asking them to deny the request. 

Mayor Kenneth Manual also released a statement, in which he explains, "The citizens opposed the site location, because [the new farm] would create a situation in which the town would be completely surrounded by solar farms."

"The decision to reject the fourth solar farm in our town ... was due to the proposed location," explained an exasperated Bryant, in an email to Tech Times. "It had absolutely nothing to do with various public comments as the media led [some] to believe."

The reporter from another paper summarized (apparently) one comment to everyone in the town:

Hoggard writes that one public commenter, retired science teacher Jane Mann, stated that the solar panels might prevent nearby plants from photosynthesizing.

"She said she has observed areas near solar panels where vegetation is brown and dead because it did not receive enough sunlight," says Hoggard. Mann's husband went on to explain that "the solar farms would suck up all the energy from the sun." 

The couple also expressed fear that solar panels cause cancer. Of the listed public comments, the Manns' were the only ones which referenced these concerns. The total population of the town is 750.

The person who wrote the original article was (apparently) trying to spread an Internet Meme about the "dumb town".

This reporter even posted on social media one article from the Independent, with the headline "US town rejects solar panels amid fears they 'suck up all the energy from the sun.'"

-Bill

techntrek

You can't fix stupid.

Especially a retired science teacher with an opinion like that.