DISPERSED RENEWABLE ENERGY SUPPLIES VS FOCUSED SETTLEMENT PATTERN ENERGY DEMAND
Time again to consider things that directly impact humans ability to achieve a sustainable trajectory for their civilization.
First, two great items from CNN today:
1. Time has “The Great Recession: America Becomes Thrift Nation.” A lot of great Timesqe poster material.
2. EMR does not often quote former Speaker Hastert’s staffers but John Feehery has some good things to say about “What’s Driving the U.S. Over the Cliff?”
BOTTOM LINE FROM BOTH: If a nation-state sets out to create a consumer driven economy, they better have a comprehensive strategy to educate the citizens in something beside Mass OverConsumption.
Now to Energy:
Readers of this Blog may recall EMR’s perspectives concerning the dispersed distribution of renewable energy sources and the focused energy demand of Urban civilization.
WaPo today tees off in a good direction with “In Green Energy, an Environmental Paradox: Wind and Solar Projects May Carry Costs to Wildlife.” Well, it is not JUST wildlife…
Those interested in the topic of spacial distribution of human activities will find the graphics on the jump page (A 14) of critical importance.
Check the “demand for land” graphic and then recall that at MINIMUM densities that functional Urban settlement patterns for the projected 2050 population would occupy less than five percent of the Lower 48.
See where the renewable sources are located and then recall where 85 percent of the population is – in a dozen MegaRegions. The demand is not close to the foci of the renewable resources.
The article focuses on the impact of transmission lines on wildlife. It does not even mention the gross waste of transmission line loss carrying mega watts past Open Land.
Nor does the story mention the need to cut energy demand, recycle waste heat and carry out the other energy conservation strategies that result in even more compact settlement patterns.
The area per Terawatt-Hour graphic is worth the cost of the paper today.
EMR
