Posted on 09/05/2022 7:49:55 AM PDT by lowbridge
According to a CNBC investigation, retail giant Amazon — which made solar power a key pillar of its plan to reach zero emissions by 2040 — secretly switched off all rooftop warehouse solar panels amid multiple fires and safety concerns.
"Out of an abundance of caution, following a small number of isolated incidents with onsite solar systems owned and operated by third parties, Amazon proactively powered off our onsite solar installations in North America, and took immediate steps to re-inspect each installation by a leading solar technical expert firm," an Amazon spokesperson conceded to CNBC in a statement.
The issue here isn't necessarily that Amazon clearly had some faulty tech on their hands. And if equipment is catching fire and threatening employee safety — as AmazonBasics products have done before — it should definitely be powered down. But the company failed to make the malfunctions and the subsequent shut-downs known to the public, which means that the company was apparently withholding info about both employee safety and its environmental efforts and impact.
Internal documents obtained by CNBC showed that between April 2020 and June 2021, there were at least six separate incidents of rooftop solar panels either catching fire or suffering electrical explosions. Forty-seven North American Amazon warehouses had these panels installed, meaning the dangerous malfunctions impacted roughly 12.7 percent of all such sites.
"The rate of dangerous incidents is unacceptable," an Amazon employee reportedly wrote in one internal report obtained by CNBC, "and above industry averages."
But these incidents and the following string of shutdowns and evaluations remained undisclosed, even though the Amazon's 2021 sustainability report — released long after those shutdowns and evaluations were underway — praised itself for its commitment to solar energy, domestically and beyond US borders.
(Excerpt) Read more at futurism.com ...
I take it Amazon’s credits from the taxpayers has expired?
They are not only ugly,they are dangerous.
right? actuarial tables don’t lie...
I’m pretty sure you can not shut off a solar panel. You can shut off the power coming from the inverter but don’t the panels always make power when in light?
How does Amazon shutdown someone's rooftop solar panels.
Oh wait! Don't tell me. you have one of their spies in your house. You thought it was only to use when you're too lazy to get off your fat ass to turn off the lights/TV/oven etc. yourself.
Wrong. Man is 100% responsible. The weather, hydrologic cycle and entire landscape was balanced in the beginning. Imagine no earthquakes, tornadoes and the earth did not have that funny off axis thing going on. Then Adam sinned. It started going downhill after that. When Noah came into the picture the world was a hotbed of sin. The flood/earthquakes really messed up the landscape.
When there is a federal tax credit to REMOVE solar panels, then the crisis is real. In the meantime, these random fires are just a coincidence. Can’t wait for the illegals living across the street to have a fire with their solar panels on the hacienda roof.
Bingo!<
This is why Amazon shutting off the power output is useless.
The problem is probably lack of fuses on each panel and at the other end for protection against an arc caused by a short.
I have bought a bunch of used electric solar panels.
None of them had fuses.
I added fuses at or in the solar panel wiring box, at the charge controllers and at the batteries.
That way if any wires should become shorted, a fuse blows.
Mr. squirrel won't cause a catastrophic problem now.
I do not mount electric solar panels on my house, only ones for hot water.
makes me wonder on houses how safe is solar panels.
clickbait BS ... they inspected them, repaired any that needed repairing and then turned them right back back on ... it’s what you do when any engineering plant has problems ...
All the crap coming from China is probably the problem. The Chinese want to see is the US fail. Sell them all the faulty goods and watch the police go up and smoke
We called that the China syndrome
Whenever someone will listen, I describe the Laurentide Ice Sheet, and just how far the massive ice spreads down from Canada during the very cold, freezing times of the current, real climate. We have short (in geologic time) periods of warming. Sometimes I just start with the fact that Chicago and New York were under a mile of ice, and will be again. I explain that we cannot stop the coming cold times. All we can do is adapt, as humans always have.
I had a sign at my desk: Large Carbon Footprints Make For Happy Trees. I strategically placed it so people would see it. If, after they recovered from the ‘shock’ of such a statement, they would actually listen, I describe the Laurentide ice sheet. I also describe the Natural Carbon Cycle, that those happy trees and plants thrive on C02. Over years of careful, calm conversation, some of those liberals actually began to think, instead of just feel.
“There is no such thing as man made climate change! Put another way there is nothing man can do to change the earth’s climate. Only the earth and the moon and the sun can do that.”
One has only to observe the impact of a volcanic eruption, an earthquake, a hurricane, a forest fire or tsunami - then compare and think about man’s output - to grasp this axiom.
Bkmk
I'm really sick of that phrase, and the pusillanimous mentality behind it.
You anti-solar types are neglecting to appreciate the enormous upside of solar facility fires and failures. These failures will cause a surge in economic activity with the removal of damaged units, the purchase and installation of new units, and the repair of structures damaged by fires, not to mention the extra business activities for those in the insurance industry. Got to look at the bright side!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.