Growing solar industry faces green backlash

Reported on MSNBC: Growing solar industry faces green backlash

Here we go again: NimBY

I don’t understand why we can’t have balance. If these developers are planning big blocks of congested activity then I can see why locals would be upset; if they have misused site planning and rolling over figurative property lines then I can see that oversight is needed. However it is difficult to determine who the villain in the story is or if in fact the story is villainous and muckraking.

How about a little here and a little there, and a little more over yonder? Certainly squirrel or lizard can appreciate some shade, yes? So the environment changes: What the do you think happened in the Central Valley when our ancestors drained Tule Lake, pumped groundwater on the West side, and began farming it to feed the faces of millions? Where were the goofy green people then?

Why don’t we just put this activity out there on the playa at Burning Man; that’s an underutilized blight of human activity: What lives on playa out there that isn’t being trampled by zillions of stoned-out nekkid feet for a brief few days out of the year?

Ya cain't have it both ways. KF

Look, biodiversity is a big deal in California. It's the most populated state in the USA, and people pay a high price to live there for the scenery.

But for frock's sake, we're talking about a feasible alternative to mercury and soot emitting coal plants.

Not in my backyard eh?
How about a coal plant instead?

More fuel to the fire:
This was posted on Reuters the day before and has a map of the affected areas.
Solar energy vs wildlife

Some basic issues with solar at large:

• In the USA, using imported solar panels, if all residential roofs were covered with solar panels, the amount of energy produced would not equal the average amount consumed nationwide, especially in the high-demand urban areas. Perhaps locally on a farm or modest homestead, yes.
• The same goes with all manufacturing roofs. The breadwinner here is storage: Any sort of storage, garage, or warehouse would likely produce a bountiful supply – and with good access to the grid, natch.

But these resources should be tapped in unison when charting out and creating concentrated sources of power.

For the whining greens,

• Plainly, coal-fired power plants endangers flora and fauna locally as much as any solar farm, plus we are all affected globally by the toxins.
• Likewise while hydro projects divert rivers to support the massive corporate plantations to feed hungry faces, we are also causing intense stress on fish stocks by the reduced runoff. What about all the species that perished when the reservoir was created?
• How many species are displaced and killed through residential expansion and asphalt runoff?

I would be keen to understand a Green's perspective for alternate locations of concentrated solar power production. 8)

Seeking balance. KF

Man, if we could just nail down orbit-to-surface power transmission we'd never have to worry about crap like this again.

Reminds me of a few years back when a company wanted to put in a big wind farm a few miles off the coast of Ocean City, MD. It ended up getting shut down because some influential property owners didn't want little white dots on the horizon "spoiling the view". ..never mind that it would have provided almost 100% of the power that the city needed.

x88x said:

Man, if we could just nail down orbit-to-surface power transmission we'd never have to worry about crap like this again.

Click to expand...

Then we could scorch those 3 whiny rich people living out in the middle of the desert for some reason... and get the solar project running again

great success!!