Last week I wrote about the residents of Richland County, Ohio, siding with their county commissioners on banning new large-scale solar and wind projects in much of the county. The wisdom of tapping the brakes on new solar projects is increasingly evident when we consider how rapidly the “renewables” technology is evolving.
In their zeal to force “renewable energy” into every nook and cranny of society, advocates have been consistently guilty of getting the solar-powered cart ahead of the wind-powered horse. In other words, time and again we realize, usually too late, that everybody is getting ahead of themselves.
Large-scale solar power is still an emerging technology. Nevertheless, the Obama and Biden administrations threw billions of tax dollars at states and local communities urging – in some cases, mandating – that they “transition” away from reliable energy sources. As a result, anywhere from 650,000 to nearly one million acres of former farmland are now covered with solar panels, depending on estimates.
American Farmland Trust predicts that as solar installations expand, “the top 12 states will also lose, fragment, or compromise between 306,000 and over 2 million acres of farmland.” Such a waste. Why? Because even for those who fervently believe in the need to transition to “renewables,” patience would be rewarded by advances in technology that would allow solar arrays to generate the same amount of energy with a much smaller footprint.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member