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  • 2021-08-11 (xsd:date)
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  • Do Belgium's Solar Parking Meters Not Work Due to Lack of Sunlight? (en)
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  • In August 2021, a TikTok video went viral that claimed parking in Belgium is free because the country's solar-powered parking meters never work due to a lack of sunlight in the area: This claim doesn't appear to be true. Belgium does have some solar parking meters, but the country also has sunlight. We've seen no credible reports about these solar-powered meters becoming frequently unusable due to a lack of sunlight. For starters, let's make a general note about solar-powered items. A solar-powered product, such as a parking meter, does not immediately stop working when the sun is hidden behind a cloud. In fact, solar panels will continue to charge (albeit at a lower efficiency) on cloudy days. Solar-powered items also tend to store energy in batteries so that they can continue to operate on cloudy days or during the night. NASA writes: We haven't been able to find much specific information about how many solar-powered parking meters are in use in Belgium. These green energy meters have been in use in Brussels, the country's capital, since at least 2010. In 2020, the company IEM equipped the city of Antwerp, Belgium, with 960 solar-powered parking meters. A spokesperson for the city of Brussels told us that the claims in this video are false: Here's a video about the solar powered parking meters that were installed by IEM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkOuyPG1PL0&t=174s We reached out to the company and will update this article article if more information becomes available. It's also worth noting that while Belgium may not be the sunniest place in the world (that would be Yuma, Arizona, U.S.A.), it's also not the gloomiest. In fact, the day after the above-displayed TikTok video went viral, racking up more than 11 million views in 24 hours, Shauna Dewit posted a follow-up video informing everyone that she had found the sun: It should also be noted that Belgium is not the only country to use such meters, and they aren't the only country to see people worry about the parking meters being unusable during cloudy weather. When similar solar-powered devices were installed in Washington, D.C., in 2010, WAMU reported: In short, we have not seen any credible reports about Belgium's solar-powered parking meters being rendered useless because of a lack of sunlight. As this country has been using these devices for at least 10 years, and as they have recently installed close to a thousand more, it seems reasonable to assume that the these parking meters work. (en)
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