Why, you can hardly walk down the street without stepping in...
That's the attitude of the Greenies who are out to save us all from Man-Made Global Warming Climate Change: they're destroying miles of desert to build massive solar arrays. They've mown down the vegetation, displaced dozens of animal species and relocated scores of imperiled desert tortoises, a move that some experts say could kill up to a third of them. As usual, the public got a token chance to comment, but the deals were sealed behind closed doors. As a result, some 21 million acres is up for "green" development - and the resultant energy will still cost ratepayers three times as much as power generated from natural gas plants.
It's an incredible experiment. The folks who rail and rant against natural gas and oil have been given a free ticket to destroy entire ecosystems in the name of "green energy". These arrays operate by focusing huge mirrors to reflect sunlight onto a central water-filled tower, heating the water to around a thousand degrees. The steam, of course, powers turbines which generate "green energy".
It takes a century to grow a barrel cactus. In the desert, the main pollinators for all plant species are insects. What happens to the insects - or for that matter, any birds - which happen to fly into the path of the mirror array? As it happens, nobody knows. It's a grand experiment; needed in order to Save The Planet™.
God knows, however, that we need to stop greedy corporations from drilling, with minimal impact, for natural gas.
Maybe we shouldn't do that. Maybe we shouldn't build these huge solar arrays. Maybe we should build wind farms, instead.
Umm...hold up:
They have long been championed as a way to combat global warming by creating clean energy.
But wind farms can actually alter the climate according to a new study by a group of American scientists.
The team from the University of Illinois found that daytime temperatures around wind farms can fall by as much as 4C, while at night temperatures can increase.
So in addition to killing important pollinators like bats by the thousands, even small-scale wind-farms like the San Gorgonio in California produce notable effects on local microclimate. Expand that into the mega-farms enviros drool over, and there may just be a problem.
Petroleum and natural gas aren't experimental technologies. We know the benefits of exploiting these resources, and we know that the risks associated with doing so have been endlessly hyped and litigated by the very folks who appear to have no problem with destroying entire ecosystems in order to further the "green" experiments.
By taking advantage of the available government subsidies, shrewd solar developers can get taxpayers to cover close to 80% of a multibillion-dollar project. The rest comes from investors, attracted by what amounts to a tax shelter.
Look at the keywords associated with this post, and reconsider your donation strategies.
Rules and regulations only apply to the rest of us, In 20 million acres of desert, there are no endangered species. On my 100 acres, there will be.
Posted by: Sam L. | February 07, 2012 at 07:20 AM
On your half acre, there will be - as I discovered when Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services slapped an "environmental overlay" on the property at my previous home.
Posted by: Max | February 07, 2012 at 05:17 PM
"... some 21 million acres is up for "green" ..."
Naturally, none of that green will be in the form of vegetation.
Posted by: ZZMike | February 08, 2012 at 11:39 AM