The state of North Carolina has a mandated plan to reduce the amount of carbon-based fuels for electricity generation. But if we rely on solar and wind, we need to consider the impacts.
From the John Locke Foundation: (HT: Jeff)
[W]e estimate the Nuclear Scenario requires only an additional 1,348 miles of transmission infrastructure — a mere fraction of the more than 12,500 miles needed for the Renewable Scenario.
Not only would the Nuclear Scenario require just 15,190 acres of land for power generation vs. well more than 7.7 million acres for the Renewable Scenario, but its actual land use could be much less. The report states it “could be reduced to 7,720 acres if new nuclear plants reuse existing coal and natural gas power plant sites.”
For context, the entire state of North Carolina consists of 34.4 million acres. With roughly 7.1 million acres of onshore land required for the renewable scenario, that means about 20.6 percent — over one-fifth — of the entire state’s land mass would need to be covered with wind and solar facilities to meet the Carbon Plan’s requirements.
Those numbers are pretty devastating if we were to rely on renewables; and forego natural gas, coal and nuclear.
The green energy cult must be pushed back. We have got the coal and gas to keep us energy independent for the foreseeable future. These solar panels and wind turbines only blight our landscape.
Fred, I agree entirely, and these stats from the JLF are absolutely insane. We can’t let that happen to North Carolina.
And if nuclear becomes a greater part of the mix, we need to be sure it is being deployed safely.