“There’s this false sense of urgency to install these facilities as fast as possible.”
“Jim Harvey loves the planet, but hates the administration’s aggressive embrace of solar power farms.”
“When it comes to renewable energy, I don’t think we should be followers, I think it’s time for us to lead.”
“Trying to double America’s renewable energy supply in three years, the administration targeted billions in stimulus money for solar projects.”
(Wall Street Journal)
President Barack Obama plans to distribute vast amounts of land and water for solar panel projects in two dozen study areas across deserts in the Southwest. Proponents of the plan argue that solar panels could provide energy independence for the country in a clean way, but opponents say it’s at the cost of destroying local desert ecosystems.
We’re looking at different perspectives on the issue from CNN, NPR, The Atlantic and MSNBC.
CNN reports that the sun’s power is a viable solution to our energy crisis.
“According to the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists, for instance, the energy we get from all of the world's reserves of coal, oil and natural gas can be matched by just 20 days' supply of sunshine.”
NPR says the rift between environmental groups is based on "turf,' with local desert groups against the panels and national groups preferring the solar panels over continuing our dependence on fossil fuels.
On one end, there are groups like the Desert Protective Council.
“You’re destroying habitat and creatures to save the planet?”
On the other, national organizations want to develop the technology.
“All of our energy has to come from somewhere. I would rather not see a single additional industrial development on the land. But if we don’t develop renewables, we're just going to have more mountaintop coal mining removal or additional drilling in the Rockies."
Our research shows
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has strongly favored installing solar panels in the California deserts, thus terminating U.S. reliance on polluting fossil fuels. Addressing Yale students at a conference on Climate Change, Schwarzenegger lightheartedly said that the Mojave Desert is the only place for this type of installment.
“What we have here is a case of environmental regulations holding up environmental progress. I don’t know whether this is ironic or absurd, but I mean -- if we cannot build solar power plants in the Mojave Desert, I don’t know where the hell we can put it, I tell you honestly.”
Part of Obama’s green agenda is to not only find solutions for America's energy problems, but to create more jobs in the process. MSNBC looked at what is happening in a small Michigan town where a solar panel factory revitalized the local economy.
“New industries providing a green road map to give workers and the planet a better, more secure future.”
A writer for The Atlantic's asks if we're missing the point by focusing too much on solar power.
“Putting solar panels on the roofs doesn’t change the essential fact that by any sensible measure, spread-out, low-rise buildings, with more foundations, walls, and roofs, have a larger carbon footprint than a high-rise office tower—even when the high-rise has no green features at all.”
Should America focus its energy on solar energy, or are we just trading one problem for another?
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