Yes, renewable energy will need land, but no more than we presently use for fossil fuels. And, the land can still be used for pasture or to grow wildflowers that support valuable pollinators like monarch butterflies. Farmers can earn income generating electricity while still farming.
[Keene Sentinel] Dr. Fred Ward is right. Solar panels cannot generate electricity 24 hours a day, while nuclear power plants can. He’s also right that nuclear power plants make a lot of electricity on a little piece of land, while we would need to use more land to generate electricity with solar.
We can talk about capacity factors and efficiencies, but these are not what really matters. The question is: Do we want inexpensive, clean energy or shall we keep buying expensive, toxic energy?
Sunlight and wind are free. We have to pay for fossil fuels and uranium. Seabrook won’t run forever and decommissioning it will cost upward of $1 billion.
Clean Energy Keene 