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0 pointsSpooky231y ago0 comments

Nothing changed. We’re literally in an auto market flooded with EVs. Solar is a ROI positive investment that is gobbling up farmland in a problematic way.

If you’re a geek, you probably got hyped up by Elon when he was saving the world with electric cars. Now that he’s regressed to his effort to offer himself for impregnation services to repopulate and installing fascist dictatorships, the electric car stuff has gone by the wayside.

Cults of personality usually end up toxic.

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delecti1y ago· 1 in thread

Based on some back of the envelope math, if the US met 100% of its electricity needs with solar, it'd take about 1.6% as much area as the US currently has farmland (22k sqmi vs 1.4mm sqmi). Considering some solar is on non-arable land, and how much excess corn the US grows (enough that some is turned back into fuel), and that 1.6% ballpark, the idea that it's problematic that we're turning some farmland into solar doesn't pass the sniff test. Do you have any more info about that being a problem?

https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/how-much-land-power-us...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_the_United_Stat...

Spooky23OP1y ago

It’s a problem that you don’t see when you look at aggregate numbers and don’t look at the future.

You tend to need commercial solar installations nearish to people - projects in say Nebraska have a lower ROI than say New York or Massachusetts. There’s much more limited amounts of land and farmable land in particular.

With climate change, aquifer depletion and other factors, farmland imo is a strategic resource that should be protected. The corn bounty is not likely to continue forever.

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