Summary
Our planet is certainly in need of more generation in the coming decade estimated at an additional 70-100GW .As conventional generation in fossil and others lose steam, Solar,Wind will fill the gap..lets gear up to this idea..less expensive, cleaner and independent energy generation is in our national interest..I hope that California is listening.
Analysis
The world is in dire need for new sources of energy as demand for generation increases especially in the emerging markets in Asia, Africa and South America. Solar and Wind energy while still in their infancy stage are expected to grow exponentially and provide 30 %-40% of the new demand for generation.Nuclear will also have a important role in our future as the industry recoup and restart with better and safer reactor designs. So what is the noise is all about in the Mojave Desert? Well the environmentalist cannot have their cake and eat it too..And where is a better place to ear mark than a desert with over 12 hours of sunny hot days? And what is so un-pristine in placing large mirrors in an un-inhibited desert and public land. As to the tortoises , the efforts to save them and move them somewhere else is plausible, but lets first think of saving peoples lives. The Ivanhoe Complex will generate 440 MW
of clean and hopefully less expensive energy enough for a small town of some 250,000 people and the US Bureau of Land management and BrightSource energy , the company who has initiated project are to be congratulated for pioneering this quantum step. The US must become energy independent and take major steps in this direction..wake up California, Wind farms on land and on water and solar mirrors are well advanced and ahead in Europe and Asia, especially China..we need to catch up and catch we will. The people of California are smart and progressive , once they understand the issues at hand , the aesthetics of a Solar complex or a wind farm compared for example with a fossil plant and its structure, their friendliness to the environment, the price of generation and the independence, they can certainly be asked and a proposition will pass with flying colors.
