According to the Center for Electrosmog Prevention, little do people know how dangerous solar energy systems can be to their health. The EMFs (manmade electromagnetic fields) produce unnatural electric, magnetic, or rf (microwave) radiation into the environment. Solar panels and their inverters give off elevated magnetic fields. High voltage transient emissions (aka “dirty energy”) travel along the wiring in the home or in the ground to other homes.
In order to use the DC current the solar panels create, you must use an inverter that converts it to alternating current (AC). The problem is, the inverter used to generate AC is a source of dirty energy. This is where the EMFs come from and escape into the air. The solution is to avoid EMFs. Ask yourself … are you willing to risk another fire, like the one that occurred at the solar field near the jail? Solar is another type of product that has been pitched to us without proper safety evaluations.
Living next to a solar farm can be harmful to your health. According to the World Health Organization, some people can suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Also, if a solar company doesn’t handle its waste properly, it can be even more detrimental. The potential carcinogenic cadmium pollutant is something that we should all be concerned about. Leaching from broken panels (from hail, tornadoes, earthquakes, or even decommissioning the panels) should be alarming. Per Occupational Safety and Health Administration, “Cadmium and its compounds are highly toxic and exposure to this metal is known to cause cancer and targets the body’s cardiovascular, renal, gastrointestinal, neurological, reproductive, and respiratory systems.” My well is only 25 feet deep. That means my aquifer is only 15 feet below the surface. It doesn’t seem like it will take long for the toxins put off by the inverters will leach into the soil and into my well. And if you think that you’re safe, because you are miles away from a solar field, you are not. Aquifers can span many, many miles. The toxins will reach you as well.
Another major concern should be the potential awful effect this solar farm will have on our environment as we know it. It can cause horrible habitat degradation. In order to make solar power work on a large scale, huge areas of land are needed. It will displace an unmeasurable number of mammals, birds, bugs, and other species. Most large solar farms are built in empty Western deserts, and even in those environments, they have destroyed the habitat of tortoises (an endangered species) and caused the death of birds due to intense rays reflected from the panels. We have a rebounding population of bald eagles in Montgomery County. Are we really willing to sacrifice that?
At the very least, solar farms are not what we signed on for when we moved to rural homes in our county. Panels are angled to catch the most light, which isn’t the best for homes next door. Would you like to have glaring sun in your windows for a large portion of the day from a solar field blocking your view, from only 100 or so feet away from your property line? Also, do you think that having a solar farm in your back yard will not deter future home sales? Potential buyers will not be interested in investing in our community to stare at an industrial landscape. We are dooming the housing market here.
Do your research and you will see how negatively this large solar farm will effect life as we know it in Montgomery County. Think about the actual future and our farmland, our homes, and our community.
Brent and Nickee Sillery
Ladoga
