The Trump administration is still considering plastering the border wall with solar panels, despite the fact that experts say the idea makes no sense practically or economically. "We're certainly looking for different methods and ways to make this better," Mario Villarreal, the division chief for San Diego's Customs and Border Patrol field office, told the Washington Examiner in a Wednesday interview. "Solar panels or technology bundles on top of the fence certainly isn't off the table."
In June, Axios reported that Trump described his vision for the wall to Republican leaders as being "40 to 50 feet high" and covered in solar panels so it "creates energy and pays for itself." The plan is not so scientifically sound, energy experts say, because "sitting solar panels atop a giant wall, or lining the sides of it, aren't necessarily the best way to maximize solar output," as BuzzFeed News writes. If it was, businesses would already be doing it.
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