I hate it when people use the "chop down rainforest" meme without any actual knowledge of why it is happening.
No, people are not chopping down the rainforest for solar panels and integrating wind turbines into a forest is absolutely trivial with minimal loss of land. [0]
The primary reason why rain forests are being destroyed is by what I personally call "disposable agriculture". Poor farmers set a part of the rainforest on fire. The resulting ashes drop down on the land and the farmer starts tilling the soil. The ashes act as a natural fertilizer. The farmer then plants his monoculture field and exports the harvest. The top soil in the rainforest is not very deep. Without trees it is prone to being blown or washed away. Additionally exporting the harvest means that organic matter is being taken away from the location which further depletes the topsoil. After 3 years the land is worthless and the farmer has to move onto the next location. Rinse and repeat. A single farmer can easily destroy hundreds of acres of rainforest.
Depletion of nutrients is not exclusive to the rainforest though. Regular farmland also suffers from this which is why farmers have to use artificial fertilizer. You can farm in the rainforest even if you can't afford fertilizer. This is why it is being destroyed.
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No, people are not chopping down the rainforest for solar panels and integrating wind turbines into a forest is absolutely trivial with minimal loss of land. [0]
The primary reason why rain forests are being destroyed is by what I personally call "disposable agriculture". Poor farmers set a part of the rainforest on fire. The resulting ashes drop down on the land and the farmer starts tilling the soil. The ashes act as a natural fertilizer. The farmer then plants his monoculture field and exports the harvest. The top soil in the rainforest is not very deep. Without trees it is prone to being blown or washed away. Additionally exporting the harvest means that organic matter is being taken away from the location which further depletes the topsoil. After 3 years the land is worthless and the farmer has to move onto the next location. Rinse and repeat. A single farmer can easily destroy hundreds of acres of rainforest.
Depletion of nutrients is not exclusive to the rainforest though. Regular farmland also suffers from this which is why farmers have to use artificial fertilizer. You can farm in the rainforest even if you can't afford fertilizer. This is why it is being destroyed.
[0] https://static2.bigstockphoto.com/5/1/3/large1500/315311371....