Senator warns of “energy sprawl”

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A new "energy sprawl" will consume an area larger than Nebraska within 20 years without wise choices, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander predicted.

"The unintended consequences from using renewable energy to mitigate climate change could damage the environment in the name of saving the environment," he said.

Alexander spoke in Washington to a forum of 200 conservationists hosted by Resources for the Future.

The Maryville native, a member of the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee and Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, asked conservationists to rethink nuclear power.

He said nuclear power can produce "the largest amounts of low-cost, reliable, carbon-free electricity while being least intrusive to the environment."

Alexander cited a Nature Conservancy scientific paper published in August entitled, "Energy Sprawl or Energy Efficiency: Climate Policy Impacts on Natural Habitat for the United States of America," which the senator said "should serve as a Paul Revere ride for the coming renewable energy sprawl."

He said that the report's suggestions for mitigating the damaging side effects of sprawl include increasing energy conservation, putting solar panels on existing rooftops, making carbon regulation flexible enough to allow all forms of carbon-free energy production, and appropriately siting new energy installations.

The senator said a major insight of the report is that some forms of carbon-free electricity production consume much less land than others.

For example, he said that the nation could produce 20 percent of America's electricity from carbon-free sources either by putting 100 nuclear reactors on 100 square miles, or 186,000 wind turbines on 25,000 square miles.

Alexander added that the wind turbines would also need up to 19,000 miles of new transmission lines to carry electricity from remote to populated areas.

Related News

Emissions rise 2% in Australia

Emissions rise 2% in Australia amid increased pollution from electricity and transport

MELBOURNE - Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions rose in the June quarter by about 2% as pollution from the electricity sector and transport increased.

Figures released on Tuesday by the Morrison government showed that on a year to year basis, emissions for the 12 months to last June totalled 498.9m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. That tally was down 2.1%, or 10.8m tonnes compared with the same period a year earlier.

However, on a seasonally adjusted quarterly basis, emissions increased to 127m tonnes, or just over 2%, from the 124.4m tonnes reported in the March quarter. For the year to March, emissions totalled…

READ MORE

In North Carolina, unpaid electric and water bills are driving families and cities to the financial brink

READ MORE

negative-electricity-prices-amid-renewable-energy-surplus

Negative Electricity Prices Amid Renewable Energy Surplus

READ MORE

solar power graph

Solar Becomes #3 Renewable Electricity Source In USA

READ MORE

Quebec shatters record for electricity consumption once again

READ MORE