They can still go all out on solar, it's not like they're pumping all that oil for themselves only

If god would like us all to have unlimited free energy, wouldn't he put a giant nuclear reactor in sky

Plant some more trees and rooftop gardens and you’ve got an official Solarpunk setting

Hopefully, we all won’t require a massive war to figure out solar should be invested into.

The Iran war is kinda doing just that, though renewable was going up pretty steadily even before it.

Big things are breaking regularly. Monsters are making choices to keep them less visible to regular people.

The Strait of Hormuz is something big.

Well things are all going great. Can't imagine anything breaking. Can't imagine electrical grids getting overwhelmed from infrastructure neglect and a surge in demand or fossil fuels becoming scarce or their flows being interrupted. When was the last time any of that stuff happened?

It just needs some trees to make it not depressing. Still, it's far better than oil and gas.

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/with-sanctions-lifted-syria-looks-to-solar-power-as-more-than-a-patchwork-fix-to-its-energy-crisis/

Looks like a recent phenomenon

Google Earth has data up through June 27, 2024. Check around the Salloum Hospital and Syrian Arab Red Cross Hospital. That area around the hospitals and to the NNE looks like nearly every roof has panels. Could also be a more recent picture and more panels may have been installed in the past year or two.

I can't find any evidence that this photo is real. Doubt they built all that in 2 years.

I'm guessing the title is a typo, and I'm guessing was meant to be "An UNusually...."

And the "a vs an" rule is more based on the sound that the next word starts with, rather than just the actual letter.

So for "usually", it's a "You-" sound

But for "unusually" it's an "Uh-" sound

Because the u in usually is pronounced like the consonant y, like “yew”. We use “a” before consonant sounds.

The u in unusually is pronounced like the vowel sound u, like “uh”. We use “an” before vowel sounds.

This is because two vowel sounds in a row is somewhat awkward and doesn’t flow as easily with how you move your mouth to pronounce things. Using “an” puts an extra consonant sound in between the two vowel sounds.

It’s odd because wide adoption of rooftop solar is still unusual, so I think the wrong word was used. It should read:

“An unusually wide adoption of rooftop solar…”

because while “usually” starts with a ‘u’, we typically pronounce it as if it started with a ‘y’

I think it's because "usually" starts with a Y consonant sound (yoo-sually), instead of a vowel sound

Citizen, you have an outstanding debt for the 2 hours of sunlight you've enjoyed yesterday.

There still are frequent power cuts in Syria.

In Damascus, the power is on for like 8 hours per day.

Yep, Bob is making a killing selling them out of his truck.

Interesting question. From what I gathered from this nature study on that, it seems that solar farms can increase ambient temperature compared to an area with some vegetation, which may be due to the panel preventing the ground from irradiating heat as effectively (by like, bouncing it off the back of the panel) and removing the vegetation that cools the area from evaporation.

But I think on a rooftop that may not have as much thermal mass as the ground, it may not have that effect, and overall should lessen the cooling needs of a building somewhat due to the shade the panels provide. Panels also don't get quite as hot as an unshielded roof, since they do reflect some infrared energy despite their dark color.

tl:dr, probably not much or at all since they're on a rooftop, and if it does, it could probably be mitigated by planting more trees and vegetation in the city (which can drop temps up to 8 degrees). But that's mostly an educated guess.

This video goes into Syria's electric grid, and how people have setup their solar installs. It shows batteries are used quite thoroughly, and doesn't appear to be grid-tied or formed into a micro-grid, AFAICT.

You can see both. Water heaters usually have a tank right behind or above them and it has a silvery tint to it. Blue hued ones are mostly electric panels

They appear to all be PV (electric) panels. The best value for this time and area.

And also a huge need for AC, when solar is typically at the peak.

I wondered when I visited Malaysia why there was not more solar panels around, and a local explained to me that it was mostly lobbying and corruption, with local electricity providers making it illegal.

I don't wish on anyone what Syria went through, but I am also hopeful that when systems breaks, workarounds exist and may in the long term improve the overall situation.