Carbon-Reduction Tax Dollars Better Spent on Demand Reduction, Not Megagrid Schemes

摘要

To address the challenge of climate change, proposals are flying around to develop renewable energy with megaprojects. A year ago, a Scientific American article proposed a "Grand Plan" to pave the desert southwest with 30,000 square miles of solar arrays.1 Similar proposals, such as the Carbon Bullet, are being promoted for massive transmission corridors to new wind farms. These solutions would create many problems. Though proponents paint the nation's deserts as "wastelands" ripe for development, such projects would place severe burdens on the environment, and would provide dubious carbon benefits at great cost.