We Don't Need to Destroy the Desert for Solar Power
Spencer Roberts
The United States solar energy boom is
finally taking off - in the worst way. In the Mojave desert and other federal
lands across the West, utility-scale installations are putting gigawatt-hours of
energy on the board and powering millions of homes. But the designs are
sloppy, thelabor conditions are
horrific, and theenvironmental damage is incalculable. Ancient joshua trees are being clear cut,
endangered desert tortoises are being left for dead,
the vast biotic carbon stores of Mojave soils are beingupturned,
and the reflectivity of enormous expanses of desert are being altered,
affecting the planetary climate.
But it doesn't have to be this way. There's a type of energy that
requires no fuel and no land. It hardly even needs transmission lines, as it
can be built at the site of use: rooftop solar. Every hour of the day, rooftops across the United States
soak up enough sun to generate petawatts of power. Estimates for their
potential to offset US energy demand range from 13 percent to over 100. Yet at present, only around 2
percent of US energy is generated by rooftop.
And then there's land area that's already been developed. Just by building solar on degraded lands, focusing on superfund sites, reservoirs, and farmland, researchers
estimate we could generate more than enough to offset today's national
energy demand. While there are points of dispute concerning some projections, the conclusion is clear: between the potential of degraded lands, rooftops, wind, and storage - plus existing hydro, nuclear,
and other zero carbon energy sources, there's really no need to tear up the
rare and fragile ecosystems of our deserts.
So why are the solar sites that should be our first priority being
overlooked and the ones that should be our last resort being bulldozed?
Today, the primary obstacle to intelligent energy design isprofit motive. Rooftop solar takes more work
for less power. The overhead costs are high. The permits are onerous. The
homeowner incentives are weak. Public lands, on the other hand, are the easy
route. It's the path of least resistance and highest returns for energy corporations and utilities trying to turn a
quarterly profit - even if they'renowhere nearthe people who need power. The reality is that a timely and just transition to renewable energy requires public investment. To achieve it, the grid must be
taken into public hands.
In a confusing media landscape full of misinformation and conspiracies
about renewable energy, the voices of experts criticizing renewable energy
installations are often grouped in with climate deniers or "NIMBYs"
and their concerns dismissed out-of-hand. We do this at our own
peril. While we can point to the gains in gigawatts, we ignore the less
quantifiable, yet grave damage to the ecosystems that we relied on to survive
long before electricity. The legitimate and serious failures of our today's profit-motivated attempt at clean energy development must be interrogated if we are
to build a resilient, efficient, and equitable grid. The window is narrowing to
avert all-out climate apocalypse. Charting a course toward a sustainable future
requires energy planning in which ecologists stand on equal footing
with engineers. Heed their warnings.
The United States solar energy boom is finally taking off - in the worst way. In the Mojave desert and other federal lands across the West, utility-scale installations are putting gigawatt-hours of energy on the board and powering millions of homes. But the designs are sloppy, the labor conditions are horrific, and the environmental damage is incalculable. Ancient joshua trees are being clear cut, endangered desert tortoises are being left for dead, the vast biotic carbon stores of Mojave soils are being upturned, and the reflectivity of enormous expanses of desert are being altered, affecting the planetary climate.
But it doesn't have to be this way. There's a type of energy that requires no fuel and no land. It hardly even needs transmission lines, as it can be built at the site of use: rooftop solar. Every hour of the day, rooftops across the United States soak up enough sun to generate petawatts of power. Estimates for their potential to offset US energy demand range from 13 percent to over 100. Yet at present, only around 2 percent of US energy is generated by rooftop.
And then there's land area that's already been developed. Just by building solar on degraded lands, focusing on superfund sites, reservoirs, and farmland, researchers estimate we could generate more than enough to offset today's national energy demand. While there are points of dispute concerning some projections, the conclusion is clear: between the potential of degraded lands, rooftops, wind, and storage - plus existing hydro, nuclear, and other zero carbon energy sources, there's really no need to tear up the rare and fragile ecosystems of our deserts.
So why are the solar sites that should be our first priority being overlooked and the ones that should be our last resort being bulldozed?
Today, the primary obstacle to intelligent energy design is profit motive. Rooftop solar takes more work for less power. The overhead costs are high. The permits are onerous. The homeowner incentives are weak. Public lands, on the other hand, are the easy route. It's the path of least resistance and highest returns for energy corporations and utilities trying to turn a quarterly profit - even if they're nowhere near the people who need power. The reality is that a timely and just transition to renewable energy requires public investment. To achieve it, the grid must be taken into public hands.
In a confusing media landscape full of misinformation and conspiracies about renewable energy, the voices of experts criticizing renewable energy installations are often grouped in with climate deniers or "NIMBYs" and their concerns dismissed out-of-hand. We do this at our own peril. While we can point to the gains in gigawatts, we ignore the less quantifiable, yet grave damage to the ecosystems that we relied on to survive long before electricity. The legitimate and serious failures of our today's profit-motivated attempt at clean energy development must be interrogated if we are to build a resilient, efficient, and equitable grid. The window is narrowing to avert all-out climate apocalypse. Charting a course toward a sustainable future requires energy planning in which ecologists stand on equal footing with engineers. Heed their warnings.