Say what? But wait, it makes sense. Solar-powered fans on hives mean that workers bees no longer need to be in the hive fanning their wings to cool things off in the summer. Instead, they can be out collecting pollen. And that means more honey, and healthier hives too.
I foresee this as a potential long term problem if used en masse. If there is no need for worker bees to fan the hive to cool it down, might there be some long term evolutionary change that reduces the number of workers capable of doing this?
I admit, it’s a long shot as workers are the same ones that collect the pollen and I suppose that if cooled hives have been used in other places for a long time in giant apiaries, then I’m completely off base.