 HOME | BLOG | ABOUT US | CONTACT US | PAST ISSUES | ADVERTISING RATES | RACK LOCATIONS Winds of Change By Don Lein It used to be that tennis, particularly ladies, was all decorum, white attire and a touch of lace was not frowned upon. At the US Open new levels of aggression toward officials was displayed accompanied by language ill-befitting the occasion. Fortunately this was partially offset by the modesty and joy exhibited by Kim Clijster upon winning the tournament. It used to be that Presidents could accept an invitation to address Congress and expect a level of decorum befitting their office. Sounds a bit like the British Parliament. Since we are attempting to emulate their healthcare system, perhaps Congress will begin to emulate Parliament’s catcalls, hisses and backbench boorishness. It used to be that terms like “renewable” and “sustainable” were deemed to have been derived from Moses’ second descent from Mt. Sinai and that anything that had either adjective attached was sacrosanct. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar indicated he wished to cover 1,000 square miles in the West with solar collectors. He also is planning on generating 20 percent of our electricity from wind with 186,000 50-story wind turbines stretching along the Appalachian peaks with the energy being transmitted by 19,000 new miles of high-voltage transmission lines. The House of Representatives has passed climate legislation that requires utilities to obtain at least 20 percent of their power from wind and solar by 2020. Fortunately, the Nature Conservancy published a paper on August 26 titled “Energy Sprawl or Energy Efficiency: Climate Policy Impacts on Natural Habitat for the United States of America” which raises the question of how much land do these various alternate approaches need? The answers should give us pause – are we despoiling our countryside just to measure up to faddish claims of what it means to be “renewable” or “sustainable”. To produce one million megawatt-hours per year, enough electricity for 90,000 homes; nuclear requires 1 square mile, geothermal requires 3, coal requires 4, solar requires 6 , natural gas needs 8, petroleum needs 18, while wind farms require over 30 square miles. By far the most land consuming are biofuels ethanol and biodiesel which require up to 500 square miles. As a case in point the output from Secretary Salazar’s 1000 square mile project could also be accomplished through 30 new nuclear reactors being placed within existing sites. In addition solar collectors need to be washed down one a month and need to be water cooled. Where does the Secretary suggest we find this water in the desert? This is one of the reasons why the Wildlife Conservancy and other environmental groups are opposing solar power on western lands. The Nature Conservancy paper calls into question a number of our energy assumptions. Clearly renewable energy is no "free lunch." Despoiling thousands of square miles of habitat and beauty should be our last resort in trying to solve our energy problems. There are alternatives and responsible environmental groups are asking us to stop and consider other alternatives before we ruin our natural heritage. While the winds of change do not seem to bode well for civility in the public arena, the changing and more enlightened environmental winds bode well for our future energy policy and our becoming less invasive of our natural habitats and less offensive to their scenic beauty. Don Lein is a regular contributor to Chatham County Line. A Chatham resident, he is involved in a number of civic organizations. |