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Can solar and wind farms hurt the environment?

solar and wind farms

The answer is yes, but a new study offers solutions of how America can generate enough renewable power to tackle climate change even if some of its most ecologically valuable landscapes are placed off-limits to solar and wind farms

Although wind and solar power are now among the least expensive new electricity sources available, it is still difficult to find enough space to develop all the renewable energy required to prevent global warming.

Developers who inundate remote communities and rural communities with plans for wind turbines and solar fields frequently encounter fierce resistance from environmentalists fighting to preserve migratory birds’, sage grouse’s, and desert tortoise’s habitat, as well as from locals who view the industrial energy infrastructure as a danger to their small-town way of life.

solar and wind farms

This takes us to a recent research conducted by the environmental advocacy organization Nature Conservancy. The study looked closely at the acreage needed to produce clean energy as well as the long-term clean energy needs of 11 Western USA states, including the need to charge tens of millions of electric automobiles. This conclusion made the assumption that the only locations off-limits to solar and wind farms were those that were already legally protected, including national parks and wildlife refuges.

The Nature Conservancy then used its models once more, this time preventing the development of renewable energy in a wide range of other areas, such as wetlands, vital habitat for endangered species, and other areas that its scientists had determined were important for both humans and wildlife, like the best agricultural soils and migration corridors.

One of them is the construction of more solar farms in the Southwest’s bright desert regions and fewer wind farms in the windiest states of the West, especially Wyoming. Since wind turbines must be placed far apart, wind farms need a lot more land area to generate the same quantity of electricity. In contrast, the overall footprint of solar farms is lower.

solar and wind farms

Increasing the number of solar and wind turbines on agricultural land is another crucial tactic

Naturally, reality is not as simple as a collection of computer simulations. Many rural communities rely heavily on agriculture as their main source of income, not to mention the food we eat.

Developers aiming to construct in less sensitive areas, for example, may be able to obtain government permissions faster and face fewer legal challenges. An prior study by the Nature Conservancy, which was centered on California, discovered that solar farms proposed for lower biodiversity sites were approved almost three times faster, which aided in hastening the shift to sustainable energy.

However, there are still techniques to lessen the harm. There will be less need for virgin desert as more solar arrays are constructed on areas already damaged by human activity, such as Superfund sites, landfills, abandoned mines, and railroad corridors.

The need for desert development can also be reduced by installing solar panels on parking lots, warehouses, and rooftops. The Nature Conservancy’s study assumes 35% of the West’s overall rooftop solar potential will actually get installed by 2050 — an ambitious target, although some rooftop solar supporters might argue we can do even better.

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Read more about the potential of solar energy here.

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