LAND, LOTS OF LAND, FOR NEW ENERGY

Study Warns of ‘Energy Sprawl’
Kate Galbraith, August 26, 2009 (NY Times)

"…[Energy Sprawl or Energy Efficiency: Climate Policy Impacts on Natural Habitat from] the Nature Conservancy predicts that by 2030, energy production in the United States will occupy a land area larger than Minnesota — in large part owing to the pursuit of domestic clean energy.

"The authors call it “energy sprawl” — a term meant to draw attention to habitat destruction, and to warn that biofuels in particular will take up substantial amounts of land…The paper looked at several scenarios, including a “base-case” derived from current Energy Information Agency forecasts for the country’s energy mix in 2030, as well as various permutations of efforts to cap greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change."

From the Nature Conservancy report. (click to enlarge)

"The study took into account only land impacts in the United States; thus for example the land required to drill for oil in Saudi Arabia, one of the United States’s biggest suppliers, was not considered. Nor was “indirect land use” taken into account. That is the controversial idea that growing soy for fuel in the United States could simply push soy-for-food production to, say, Indonesia, where CO2-sipping forests would then be razed for soy farming.

"Nuclear power is the most compact in terms of the amount of land taken up per unit of energy, according to the study; coal and geothermal energy also took up relatively small amounts of space. Biodiesel made from soybeans, the burning of energy crops to create electricity, and ethanol production had the highest “sprawl” impact."

From the Nature Conservancy report. (click to enlarge)

"Asked about the assertion by some solar advocates that covering a 100-mile by 100-mile square of Nevada desert with solar arrays could power the United States, [the study’s lead author said it was trying to be] realistic about the projected energy mix.

"As for climate change…[the study’s lead author said] the paper highlights several ways to reduce the sprawl. These include reusing already-developed sights, as well as a flexible cap-and-trade system that allows for the development of new nuclear plants and the sequestration of carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants…But perhaps the most important is energy conservation…"