Most ground-mount solar projects建在美国是砾石，草皮或污垢。
就在这里抓住-22太阳能项目。太阳能平局是它能够提供干净的电源，保留美丽的风景是在煤矿，油井和水力压裂危险的能力。
但无论如何，安装在砂石，泥土或草皮的太阳能破坏了自然生态系统。当太阳能首次被启动，许多工程师也没多想鸟类，蜜蜂和蝴蝶，为什么他们是非常重要的。现在，企业，城市和农民正在尝试做的更好。
“我们不应该使用的土地管理实践与降解的自然生态系统，如太阳能电池板，而不是原生植物下，使用碎石可再生能源项目，”哈蒙德ELYSA在克里夫酒吧环境管理的高级副总裁说。
The birds and the bees ... and the panels
双子瀑布周边克利夫酒吧30万英尺的面包店，爱达荷州是五英亩的太阳能电池阵列。而不是灰色的石头，泥土的棕色或绿色霓虹灯所以它看起来假的，面板是由黄色，粉红色和郁郁葱葱的天然榛子包围。反射太阳能电池板坐落在原生开花植物的床支撑传粉昆虫，节约用水和储存碳在健康表土。这是新兴的模式地面安装太阳能，一个欢迎自然回到土地。
That nature is vital to the longevity of our non-natural agriculture. The decline in pollinators is on the创建的边缘a massive food shortage and supply chain problem for humans. The absence of bees would wipe out soy, coffee, apples, almonds, tomatoes, cacao and many more common crops.
在中国，human hands with feathers有梨树授粉蜜蜂代替。在美国，美国农业部授予超过$ 900,000in grant money to a "robotic pollination system," i.e. drone pollination, to the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
"I just think the technological solution is so high cost compared to the very affordable solution of just planting more flowers," said Rob Davis, director at the Center for Pollinators in Energy at Fresh Energy.
The extra costs associated with pollinator-friendly solar panels include the original seed and raising the panels from 12 inches to 48 inches off the ground. While some developers hem and haw, Davis confidently referred to these startup expenses as "budget dust."
虽然克里夫的授粉友好的太阳能电池阵列的权力自己的面包店，蓝波太阳能是连接独立农场与授粉友好的太阳能项目，以振兴他们的土地。
"We don't regard solar development as permanent conversion," said Drew Pierson, director of sustainability at BlueWave Solar. "Hopefully, the way that we've stewarded that land over time is allowing [the land] to be more productive at the end of the project."
通过引入本土，非营利性收入的植物再进入土壤，同时还提供了一个收入来源的农民，土壤有时间从几十年的单一作物虐待愈合，根据蓝波。
The solar projects protect the soil if the farmers want to turn it back into farmland later. And then there are the multiple benefits of allowing natural grazers such as sheep and goats onto the land around the panels. Natural grazing practices鼓励基层成长，increase soil health and also avoids mowing.
“当你量化割草太阳能项目每年6次30年的成本 - 气，劳动然后割草机多少次去罢工的太阳能电池板，”戴维斯说。“割草机介绍了很多风险和努力。”
We shouldn’t be using land management practices with renewable energy projects that degrade natural ecosystems, like using gravel under solar panels instead of native plants.
Dual-use solar has potential beyond sustainability benefits. According to a联合国记者了解，过渡到一个更可持续的经济可以创造2400万个新的就业机会。
Businesses have found that even on an individual level, its sustainability projects lead to job creation and even to a profit-making product. Clif Bar’s pollinator-friendly solar array on a soy farm in Iowa supports a beekeeper as the bees flit between the flowers under the solar panels to the hive, making honey. That honey is sold for $10 a jar at theClif Family Farm and Wineryunder the label "solar-grown honey."
The grass is greener on the underside
According to theUSDA，美国在2018年有近900万亩农田。专家和企业看到的可能性农场可持续两用太阳能项目的世界。状态，例如马萨诸塞州创建补贴和额外补偿他们的可再生能源计划，即允许双重用途的项目。
蓝波太阳能正在开发10个agrivoltaics项目，并已完成的太阳能项目135兆瓦在马萨诸塞州。它的阵列直接融入社区电网，并提供一个替代收入来源的农民。居民和小企业可以订阅社区太阳能项目获得太阳能信贷和降低他们的电费。
在亚利桑那大学，一个正在进行的研究项目的一部分能源的激发系已经退出太阳能电池板从仅有3英尺离地面高到空气中。下面，通常会烤到亚利桑那州的热脆作物正在寻找新的生活 - chiltepin辣椒，胡椒和樱桃番茄。
The solar-shaded plants produce two to three times as many fruits because they are spared direct sunlight during the day and the heat is trapped during the cold desert nights.
据皮尔逊，太阳能技术正朝着将被更适合两用，同时收集更多的电源板。单轴跟踪器的太阳能电池板，如一个实例中，物理地倾斜并在一天移动以跟随太阳光线，10％和20％之间更集电比标准太阳能项目。因为运动的，面板必须被进一步间隔开，以避免阴影和碰撞，巧合提供所述面板之间的最佳间距为植物的下方，以获得太阳光。
“有很多真正的自然对齐的，”他说。“你可能需要多一点战略和精确耕的方法，但它实际上与自然再生农业侧重于最大限度地减少土地的干扰，促进多样性的元素相吻合。”
Editor's note: This article was updated June 11 to remove the reference to a planned BlueWave dual-use solar farm in Knowlton, Massachusetts.
