They’re Paneling Paradise to Put Up Solar—a Lot

They’re Paneling Paradise to Put Up Solar—a Lot
Luminalt solar installers Pam Quan (R) and Walter Morales install solar panels on the roof of a home in San Francisco, on May 9, 2018. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Steve Miller
RealClearInvestigations
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The pathway to a green future involves taking millions of acres of pristine wilderness and turning them into fields of windmills and hot expanses of glistening panels.

The Biden administration’s goal of supplying 40 percent of the nation’s energy from the sun by 2035 means covering millions of acres of forest and desert habitat with vast solar panel installations fenced off like prisons. It would require 8,800 square miles of land, or 5.6 million acres, to generate that power (leaving out small installations on buildings and the like)—about the size of Rhode Island and Massachusetts combined.
Steve Miller is an author and journalist. After spending 12 years as an indie musician, Miller began his journalism career as a courts and cops reporter at the Dallas Morning News and as a national reporter at the Washington Times. He has worked as a national correspondent for The Daily Beast, People magazine, High Times, U.S. News and World Report, RealClearInvestigations, and several alternative weeklies including Houston Press and Miami New Times.
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