How Many Trees To Cut Down For Solar Panels

In the foreground is a copse of trees which could be cut down to make space for solar panels.

How many trees to cut down for solar panels.

Many homeowners hesitate to sacrifice trees for solar because it doesn t seem like an environmentally friendly or cost effective solution. At most the typical homeowner may need to remove one whole tree. A 7521 watt system produces about 8318 kwh a year. Some environmental benefits of trees however can be counted.

Still many homeowners hesitate to sacrifice trees for solar since it doesn t seem an environmentally friendly or cost effective solution. On a net environmental basis you are doing the right thing. They come with a 30 year warranty on the pv cells and the inverter. Sometimes solar can involve painful tradeoffs.

Department of energy calculator. The truth however is that the net benefits of removing trees to install solar can be huge. A 30 year old white oak absorbs some 60 pounds of carbon dioxide a year while your state tree the fast growing red oak can remove about 240 pounds according to a u s. 8318 kwh x 1 106 pounds of co2 produced from conventional electricity comes out to 9200 pounds of co2 avoided each year.

If you are considering cutting down fewer than 50 trees to get the most out of a 7 500 watt solar electric system don t feel guilty. However the net benefits of removing trees to install solar can be significant. 9200 lbs saved with solar divided by 48 lbs of co2 stored by trees 191 66 trees. A typical mature tree stores about 48 lbs of co2 a year.

Trinity episcopal church in stoughton is surrounded by woodland. Although we can calculate the amount of greenhouse gases offset by solar panels other things just can t be quantified like the sustenance and comfort that trees provide. The standard envision solar tree is mounted on a single central tower with a 35 square foot 60 module solar photovoltaic panel a solar array mounted on top. Envision also provides a custom solution for self sustainable electric vehicle charging stations in these stations the solar powered trees produce energy that is stored.