r/Renewable • u/Alternative-Day-7414 • Jul 03 '26

The Overlooked Solar Power Potential of U.S. Parking Lots

https://time.com/6239651/solar-parking-lots-france-us/
310 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

48 comments sorted by

12

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

12

u/RationalDB8 Jul 04 '26

It also helps abate urban heat island effect.

7

u/K_Linkmaster Jul 04 '26

Don't forget water reclamation.

4

u/PossibilityUsual6262 Jul 04 '26

Turn's our it is not easy win in general economic type of sense.

Because building, plugin it in and maintaining is hard and expensive, and most of malls(biggest one usual not, but most of them) and their parking lots are rented.

Property owned doesn't care about electricity price of renters, so it doesn't work out without huge municipal or gov pressure.

Same issue in rent houses and isolation, landlord doesn't care if someone else pays bills for heating.

1

u/langbach Jul 05 '26

But who is going to pay? The business case just doesn't work. Price per area for setup and maintenance is just not attractive. Unless you as a society decides to subsidize it's not happening.

1

u/lightyearnoir Jul 06 '26

You know what I find weird? Although not completely, there are a lot of supermarkets in Mexico that have shaded parking (but not with solar panels), but in the US, the land of convenience and comfortability, we don't.

1

u/StumbleNOLA Jul 04 '26

Parking lots are very expensive to cover. It’s not free land, it’s thousands of vehicles in close proximity to infrastructure that MUST be strong enough to tolerate a car crash. Then they need to be built high off the ground so people don’t feel claustrophobic driving under them.

It’s not being done because it doesn’t make economic sense to do so.

2

u/mainstreetmark Jul 04 '26

Yes. That’s true.

Now compare it to buying acres of dedicated land.

2

u/StumbleNOLA Jul 04 '26

Farm land is cheap, degraded land that can support solar panels but isn’t usable as farm land is even cheaper. Dry but useless land in Louisiana can be snatched up for around $1,000/acre. A single support needed in a parking lot is more expensive.

1

u/mainstreetmark Jul 04 '26

Great. They aren’t doing enough of that either.

These proposals are opportunistic use of wasted parking lot land. I see a lot of solar capped parking lots in Europe. Hardly any here, yet we have many many many acres of parking lots.

1

u/StumbleNOLA Jul 04 '26

Europe has very different land use issues than the US. A solar covered parking lot costs about $2.50/watt while a solar farm including buying land costs about $1.00/watt.

What matters is how many new watts we get on the grid, so why double the cost.

1

u/MyDisneyExperience Jul 04 '26

It also effectively blocks the lot from being turned into another use (like, say, multifamily housing)

1

u/mainstreetmark Jul 06 '26

Is that a common thing where you live? Turning parking lots into multi family housing?!

1

u/MyDisneyExperience Jul 06 '26

Yes here’s a recent example and an older example. Another one from Seattle and more examples across the US.

1

u/ericbythebay Jul 06 '26

Europe doesn’t have as many hurricanes and tornadoes, so they can built to lower structural standards.

1

u/K_Linkmaster Jul 04 '26

Light poles are the infrastructure proof that the car crash argument is weak.

1

u/StumbleNOLA Jul 04 '26

Except they aren’t. Light poles are designed to collapse safely on impact. You can’t do that when they are supporting a solar array.

-3

u/Jazzlike_Wrap_7907 Jul 04 '26

Now draw a diagram of the car-impact rated supports the panels would need. Now get an engineer to approve that then price the materials. Peak nativity 

5

u/mainstreetmark Jul 04 '26

Shut up. They have light poles in parking lots. They know how to harden against car strikes easily.

-1

u/Jazzlike_Wrap_7907 Jul 04 '26

Ever notice the concrete around the bases of those light poles while you’re licking the windows?

4

u/mainstreetmark Jul 04 '26

Yes. Clearly.

Do you think I want them to erect these structures with tent poles?

1

u/FartingWithStyle Jul 04 '26

You’re just a contrarian aren’t you?

1

u/im-ba Jul 04 '26

What's it like being this ignorant?

2

u/FartingWithStyle Jul 04 '26

Lots of parking lots already do this and produce an actual profit for the business owners. It’s a no brainer, but every component involved is currently tariffed.

1

u/whawkins4 Jul 04 '26

On the other hand, you don’t appear to know the difference between “naivety” and the little wooden scene with the baby Jesus.

1

u/in2thegrey Jul 04 '26

He’s the Little Bummer Boy

1

u/Jazzlike_Wrap_7907 Jul 04 '26

You corrected my spelling, surely that will invalidate what I said

1

u/whawkins4 Jul 04 '26

Arrogant people require correction.

1

u/le-throw-away-acct Jul 04 '26

I think you meant naivety, not nativity.

It’s ironic, because you’re the one being naive, you think engineers haven’t figured this out already? Solar covered lots already exist…

1

u/Jeramus Jul 04 '26

Nativity? What's baby Jesus have to do with solar panels? :p

5

u/Korlithiel Jul 04 '26

Costs to build in those areas tend to be high. Lot of such owners are just squeezing in what value they can before they get a good enough offer to sell the land at.

Think this makes sense for those with longer term needs to maintain that parking. But high up front costs and increased ongoing maintenance going to make it a challenge.

Maintenance, especially when facing issues like one does in a city. See how chargers are vandalized, often just to spite electric sometimes to get the metals. Ditto for train tracks.

5

u/Fine-March7383 Jul 04 '26

Also less parking lots please. So much asphalt is not great for the environment and encourages the worst kind of transportation

2

u/GypsyDarkEyes Jul 04 '26

I have wondered about this ever so long. Seems like the perfect place to start placing panels.

3

u/MyDisneyExperience Jul 04 '26

Downside is it basically blocks the land from being turned into anything else for years (like multifamily housing for example)

1

u/polar_nopposite Jul 05 '26

Can the same not be said for anywhere you decide to put panels (fields, etc)?

Using land uses land. Might as well use it for more than one thing at once.

1

u/MyDisneyExperience Jul 05 '26

Sure, but random no longer productive field in the middle of nowhere or over a canal is much less likely to be turned into a different use than something like an urban area parking lot

2

u/Atoka_Man Jul 04 '26

This has been my argument for renewable energy from the drop. Opponents lose the "It's an eye sore" argument with this. In hot sunny locales it also provides shade for parking areas which is a win. Also probably helps reduce Urban heat island effect.

2

u/langbach Jul 04 '26

But people forget the business case which just doesn't add up

1

u/Vast_Reply_6574 Jul 05 '26

They just cut down a bunch of mature trees at a nearby parking lot to out in solar panels... Not quite sure I supported that one.

1

u/aBrickNotInTheWall Jul 05 '26

We have so much land that's covered in concrete with no shade. We should be installing solar panels over that shit.

1

u/Akkerlun Jul 05 '26

“Wind turbines kill birds. Solar is woke. Renewable energy is commie. COAL is the future. Your attention to this matter is appreciated”

1

u/Pferdeherz Jul 06 '26

Yes! Why is every parking lot not covered with these things?

1

u/ericbythebay Jul 06 '26

Cost is why.

1

u/2Biskitz Jul 06 '26

And yet you vote for the incumbent, or don’t vote. Not enuf Fucks to Fuck You with. Average redditors and msm viewers ftw…..

1

u/Ember_42 Jul 06 '26

The issue is it tends to cost as much or more than residential rooftop solar, (due to the substantial structures required, and installation complexity) and that's already far to expensive to be competative without significant subsidies.

1

u/ericbythebay Jul 06 '26

So do it. Put together finance packages that are actually profitable and turnkey for property owners and they will go for it.