[MetaWhirledPeas]

I was shocked (pun) to hear how my relatives were each reacting to solar energy. One was rural and was concerned about nearby land getting turned into a solar farm. Another was concerned about farmland being edged out in favor of solar. And a third spent some time in emergency response on a solar farm and was off-put by their vastness and the electrical danger while traversing through them.

Coincidentally this video emerged within a day of my conversation with the three of them. I shared it; they probably didn't watch it but it sure was pertinent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeGM

[RankingMember]

That video is imho his best work, the ending made all the more powerful by how reserved he normally is.

[AndrewDavis]

I really liked the land usage discussion. That (for the US) if you took the land currently being used to grow crops for ethanol based motor fuels. Turned them into solar farms you'd cover 80% of current grid demand.

I was already pro renewables for a myriad of reasons. But that put the scale into a much better perspective.

[svpk]

That's incorrect per the video. It wouldn't cover 80% of the current US grid it would cover 80% more! It would be 180% of total US grid usage.

Timestamp of where he says that: https://youtu.be/KtQ9nt2ZeGM?t=2198

[andbberger]

or we could build like 200 more fission plants and rewild all that ethanol land. not really a compelling point in favor of solar land use this factoid...

[iSnow]

That, however, would be vastly more expensive. Maybe worth it from an overall ecological PoV, but I doubt power companies have an appetite for the CAPEX involved.

[sixothree]

The deep south is so different from the rest of the country that it's hard to describe without hyperbole. It's true they've been misled. But what's amazing is just how gullible they are. And just how angry they can get about things that aren't remotely true or simply have zero effect on their life. After a funeral I had the pleasure of sitting at dinner with someone engrossed in the fox news culture. The things they believe to be true are simply astounding. And the shape of their world view is repulsive.