The article in the url below illustrates vividly the barriers to large scale expansion of alternative energy sources.
In short, scaling-up production of these energy sources (e.g., solar or wind) requires large amounts of resources—a cost that defeats the purpose of introducing them in the first place (a reduction in resource consumption). The article details this point in reference to fulfilling California’s commitment:
“…to obtain one-third of its electricity from renewable energy sources like sunlight and wind by 2020.”
In particular, the author highlights the huge amount of land both solar and wind projects require in order to produce a meaningful amount of energy. California’s peak electricity demand is (according to the author) 52,000 megawatts. As such, in order to meet its one-third obligation from alternative energy sources, California will need to generate approximately 17,000 megawatts of alternative electricity:
“Most of its large-scale solar electricity production will presumably come from projects like the $2 billion Ivanpah solar plant, which is now under construction in the Mojave Desert in southern California. When completed, Ivanpah, which aims to provide 370 megawatts of solar generation capacity, will cover 3,600 acres — about five and a half square miles. The math is simple: to have 8,500 megawatts of solar capacity, California would need at least 23 projects the size of Ivanpah, covering about 129 square miles, an area more than five times as large as Manhattan. … Wind energy projects require even more land. The Roscoe wind farm in Texas, which has a capacity of 781.5 megawatts, covers about 154 square miles. Again, the math is straightforward: to have 8,500 megawatts of wind generation capacity, California would likely need to set aside an area equivalent to more than 70 Manhattans.”
There is plenty of land in the California desert, but then distribution becomes a barrier. The article also outlines the environmental impact of such huge projects—endangering plants and wildlife is one concern, while the amount of steel necessary to produce sufficient numbers of wind turbines is another:
“The production and transportation of steel are both expensive and energy-intensive, and installing a single wind turbine requires about 200 tons of it. Many turbines have capacities of 3 or 4 megawatts, so you can assume that each megawatt of wind capacity requires roughly 50 tons of steel. By contrast, a typical natural gas turbine can produce nearly 43 megawatts while weighing only 9 tons.”
The author delivers a strong conclusion:
“Such profligate use of resources is the antithesis of the environmental ideal.”
Take care
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The Gas is Greener
Robert Bryce
The New York Times
June 8, 2011
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