In theory? Recycling technology and abundant energy via solar and or fusion power allows us to reprocess metals and other scarce resources. A balanced population? Reduces demand for resources. Future access to the resources present in the solar system? Extends any resource bottleneck for an indefinite period.
Yes it could happen , but with the path of this American government that will not happen. More pollution and greed will not save this planet. That’s why I love Dr, Clark’s explanation in Rama. Evolve then disappear.due to bad planning.
The placement of solar is an issue , this is why , here in central Ohio, I have been trying to get the data centers to take some responsibility for the increased needs for power by installing solar panels on their buildings. Each data center is about a square mile of roof area. They could be helping in the solution. Instead they are not being asked to help but instead being allowed to build their own fossil fuel power plants. They do zero to engineer their buildings to be cooler. We are building one of those farm solar places. The sheep farming that solar farms create is one development. The other , not being done here, is a higher solar farm allowing farming on the land under the panels.
It comes down to the value of the land (with one other consideration). Good quality farming land is expensive. On the other hand ideally solar farms should be placed in areas which maximize clear skies/low precipitation i.e arid and semi arid regions . The exception? situations where agriculture and solar panels don't clash. There are examples of agricultural regions where solar panels provide shade for crops and/or improve grazing for animals by reducing evaporation.
That is my campaign in Ohio. The data centers I worked at have zero renewables, they have a square mile of roof and lots of empty land that should be covered with solar panels. They also are giant wind tunnels . But in the fossil fuel loving Ohio we are building them fossil fuel private power plants to add to the heat and need for more cooling.
It's a post-1990 worldview.
www.ft.com
Census Bureau put out its population updates this week.
Cant speak for wind farms, beyond noting they are isolated by geography to locations with average higher winds speeds that last for longer periods of time. Solar farms? You can just about put anywhere although obviously at higher latitudes and in cloudier parts of the world it's less efficient. The thing is though China has already shown that large scale solar farms don't have to consume or disturb valuable farming land. In fact tey've already been proven that under certain conditions it they can actually enhance the protective capacity of farmland they are built on by providing shade and changing the micro climate beneath the rows of panels.
having solar on rooftops also creates a danger to Utility workers. Its easy to isolate the problem area with one point of entry on the grid. When there are multiple points where power is being fed through and either there is no way to isolate those or they are not known then linemen get electrocuted. Its like hooking your emergency generator to your breaker box when the power is out. You not only feed your house but you also energize the lines coming to your home.
On the battery issue? Residents opposing a solar farm for that reason are probably concerned about lithium batteries being used. The thing is they're often not the best choice because other chemistries with lower energy densities are perfectly acceptable for static energy storage and they're usually both cheaper and non combustible or at least far less combustible than lithium.
You could probably have both corn and solar if you angled and dispersed the panels properly (at least to a degree). The thing is that IMO subsidies for bio fuel production are really just a boondoggle designed to raise the income of corn farmers. The US subsidizes corn production for ethanol to the tune of about 20 billion USD p.a. At the same time total bio-fuel output p.a. (including from sources other than corn) makes up only about 5% of domestic fuel consumption. So whats the point other than keeping politicians in their seats?
