A major motivation for deploying solar power is to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide from traditional power generation. When installing solar power in forested regions, this motivation needs further research because, as mentioned earlier, trees and brush must be removed to prevent shading of solar panels. Typically, any plant taller than ∼0.5 m is cut or removed, and tree roots are removed to allow posts to be driven into the ground [20]. In this subsection we estimate the CO2 released by the removal of vegetation, and present a full life cycle CO2 emission rate for large-scale solar power. At the end of the subsection, we discuss possible climate impacts from surface albedo and heat island effects