A QUANDARY: TREES OR SOLAR PANELS?
JPMorgan Chase wants to fell 150 Seminole trees for solar canopies
JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the U.S., plans to chop down 150 large shade trees from a pair of office parking lots off International Parkway in Seminole County to make way for more than a dozen solar panel canopies.
The solar panels eventually would feed electrical power to JPMorgan’s two three-story office buildings as part of a two-year plan calling for the banking giant’s buildings in more than 60 countries to be completely dependent on renewable energy.
But the initiative sets up the quandary of
whether axing trees, which clean out carbon dioxide and other pollutants from the air, to install a clean energy source such as solar panels, is an improvement from an environmental standpoint.
“It’s case by case,” said Will Liner, urban forestry program manager with the Florida Forest Service, speaking broadly about the issue of solar panels versus trees and not specifically addressing JPMorgan’s proposal. “Solar panels are a very positive thing because you are getting electricity from a renewable source of energy…. But what you don’t get from solar
panels are the human health benefits of trees.”
Those benefits include stress reduction, shade and prevention of storm water runoff that trees provide, Liner said.
“There are trade-offs,” he said. “Sometimes removing trees to put in solar panels can be the correct decision. I’m just happy to hear that a company is looking at doing something environmentally friendly.”
Seminole Commissioner Lee Constantine agreed.
“I applaud the idea of solar energy,” Constantine said. “But I just want to make sure that we’re not clear cutting and that there is going to be mitigation for that….Are they going to replant trees [elsewhere]? Is there going to be value to this?”
Climate change has been directly related to the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, and 100 trees clean out 53 tons of carbon dioxide from the air annually, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, producing one kilowatt-hour of electricity — or the equivalent of running two desktop computers for seven hours straight — generates 1.34 pounds of carbon dioxide.
However, a 5,000-watt solar electric array on a roof will generate about 4,800 kilowatt hours per year and prevent 5,760 pounds of carbon dioxide from going into the atmosphere annually, according to Earthruns.org.
In its application to Seminole County, JPMorgan proposes installing the solar panel canopies over much of the 892-space parking lot at 550 International Parkway. Vehicles will be able to park underneath the canopies.
Of the total 99 trees — most of them large oaks — in the parking lot, 11 will remain, according to the application. All the trees adjacent to the buildings, which include crepe myrtles, and along the perimeter of the property also will remain.
Seminole commissioners are scheduled to hear the request on Tuesday. County staffers and the planning and zoning commission, an advisory board, have recommended approval.
JPMorgan officials couldn’t say how soon the trees would come down and when the solar panels would go up and start generating electricity after approval from Seminole commissioners.
JPMorgan submitted a similar application to the city of Lake Mary for its adjacent property at 600 Business Center Drive. The application calls for the removal of 62 trees for solar panel canopies in that lot.
Lake Mary’s request likely will not be heard for several more weeks, city officials said.
International Parkway, which stretches between West Lake Mary Boulevard and State Road 46, just west of Interstate 4, is a scenic thoroughfare lined with hundreds of large shade trees. The Parkway sits near the upscale Heathrow community and provides access to AAA’s headquarters.
Seminole generally requires property owners to replace any trees or contribute to the county’s Arbor Tree Fund based on the actual tree replacement cost when removing trees. The county draws from that fund to plant trees in parks or along right-of-ways.
Because of the limited space in the parking lot, JPMorgan would be unable to plant replacement trees on its properties. County officials said this week that they’re still determining how much the company would have to pay into Seminole’s tree fund.
JPMorgan officials said installing the solar panels on the roofs of both buildings wasn’t feasible because of the lack of space and the danger of strong winds damaging the panels.
Sharon Lynn, president of the League of Women Voters of Seminole County, helps residents tap solar power, said the League doesn’t advocate for the cutting down of trees in every instance of putting solar panels.
However, she said she’s pleased that a large corporation is taking an environmental initiative with solar energy.
“While my experience through residential solar co-ops was that we did not encourage cutting trees to accommodate solar panels, we are thrilled that a multi-national corporation like JPMorgan Chase is making a commitment to renewable energy,” she said. “In this situation, I would be hard pressed to disagree [with JPMorgan]. Any corporation that goes to renewable energy in the current climate is doing a good thing.”