With all of the talk these days, finally, of creating a new, alternative, energy grid, I began to think about what this grid was going to look like. And that worries me.
I know that it takes great effort on the part of most people to see, or even comprehend, the value of the desert. I have this feeling that most people who are going to be involved with setting up a solar and wind energy grid are also the same people who, not in the too distant future, were drilling for oil and trying to push nuclear energy onto the unwary public in the past. They are looking at it as a business. A business that should use the natural resources that we have for the least amount of money for production.
So when people think of solar energy, they immediately think of the desert. That’s where the sun is, right? Plus it’s such a harsh environment that no one ever goes there, no one ever thinks about it, and those crazy environmentalists are going to look the other way because you know, it’s all about solar.
That may be true. But I tend to think that the desert is a very fragile environment that needs to be taken care of just like any other extreme and fragile environment, by leaving it alone.
… without careful planning and regulation, these “climate solutions” could irrevocably damage the planet they are intended to protect.
The biologically rich but arid desert ecosystems are remarkably fragile. Once topsoil and plant life have been disrupted for the placement of solar arrays, wind farms, power plants, transmission lines and CO2 scrubbers, restoration would be cost-prohibitive, if not technically impossible. And widespread desert construction — even of projects aimed at environmental mitigation — would devastate the very organisms and ecosystems best able to adjust to a warming world. — LA Times
The above article goes on to describe the number of desert acres that are already delegated for solar projects. And as I read the article, I see that Bruce Pavlik has pretty much the same ideas that I do about how to solve the problem.
The better way to develop a national solar grid would be to put solar panels on the roof of every house and building in the country. The reason for this?
- Each building would create at least part of their own daily usage of electricity.
- If there were extra electricity it would go out into the grid to feed into the system.
- Creating the system this way would enable the system to remain functioning should one node go down, working in much the same way as the internet.
And there would be no large swaths of delicate desert landscape taken up by solar panel farms whose only purpose would be feed the grid.
We need to make our energy grids smaller, not larger. They need to be created on a community level. If we don’t, the whole concept of alternative energy as good for the environment is going to be just a load of bull.
Smaller Grids = Better Efficiency
With all of the talk these days, finally, of creating a new, alternative, energy grid, I began to think about what this grid was going to look like. And that worries me.
I know that it takes great effort on the part of most people to see, or even comprehend, the value of the desert. I have this feeling that most people who are going to be involved with setting up a solar and wind energy grid are also the same people who, not in the too distant future, were drilling for oil and trying to push nuclear energy onto the unwary public in the past. They are looking at it as a business. A business that should use the natural resources that we have for the least amount of money for production.
So when people think of solar energy, they immediately think of the desert. That’s where the sun is, right? Plus it’s such a harsh environment that no one ever goes there, no one ever thinks about it, and those crazy environmentalists are going to look the other way because you know, it’s all about solar.
That may be true. But I tend to think that the desert is a very fragile environment that needs to be taken care of just like any other extreme and fragile environment, by leaving it alone.
The above article goes on to describe the number of desert acres that are already delegated for solar projects. And as I read the article, I see that Bruce Pavlik has pretty much the same ideas that I do about how to solve the problem.
The better way to develop a national solar grid would be to put solar panels on the roof of every house and building in the country. The reason for this?
And there would be no large swaths of delicate desert landscape taken up by solar panel farms whose only purpose would be feed the grid.
We need to make our energy grids smaller, not larger. They need to be created on a community level. If we don’t, the whole concept of alternative energy as good for the environment is going to be just a load of bull.