Q: Why wasn’t the Georgia Dome implosion sprayed with water to keep the dust cloud down, which in turn reduces pollution?

—Alan Evans, Marietta

A: The site was being sprayed with water before and during the implosion event to reduce dust as much as possible, a spokeswoman for the Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA) told Q&A on the News via email. This is standard protocol for all implosions.

Spraying or misting the structure with water only provides a nominal improvement on resulting dust, as the majority of that comes from the newly exposed concrete inside the structure, according to the GWCCA.

Q: There are acres of solar panels along Highway 96 west of Butler. Who owns these panels? Are there other similar large solar arrays in Georgia?

—Tim Eastling, Atlanta

A: The solar panels visible from Highway 96 in west central Georgia are part of the Pawpaw Solar Facility, a 416-acre energy field owned by Southern Power, a subsidiary of Southern Co. Southern Power purchased the 30-megawatt Taylor County facility from Longview Solar LLC in 2015.

In total, the state of Georgia has 176 utility-scale solar farms — which, according to Don Moreland, chair of the Georgia Solar Energy Association, describes any facility of 5 acres or larger that sells 100 percent of its energy back to the grid.

Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).

About the Author

Featured

Parents and students arrive for the first day of school at Harmony Elementary School in Buford on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. (Natrice Miller/AJC)