Desert Vistas vs. Solar Power
Dec 23rd, 2009 | By Editor | Category: Latest HeadlinesAMBOY, Calif. — Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation in Congress on Monday to protect a million acres of the Mojave Desert in California by scuttling some 13 big solar plants and wind farms planned for the region.
But before the bill to create two new Mojave national monuments has even had its first hearing, the California Democrat has largely achieved her aim. Regardless of the legislation’s fate, her opposition means that few if any power plants are likely to be built in the monument area, a complication in California’s effort to achieve its aggressive goals for renewable energy.
Developers of the projects have already postponed several proposals or abandoned them entirely. The California agency charged with planning a renewable energy transmission grid has rerouted proposed power lines to avoid the monument.
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Good for Sen. Feinstein. Part of the beauty of solar power is it can and should be decentralized. Every building should be required to generate it’s own power and have the ability to sell power back to the grid. This sort of system would be virtually terrorist proof. The best part; once paid for, most PV systems will generate power for free for decades.
Centralized systems perpetuate a profit motivated energy production and distribution system that puts the entire population at mercy of the central provider. The worst parts; we the people pay forever while the power company rolls in free energy, and it continues putting our national security at risk by being centralized.
If an enemy can control our power grid, they control us.