The use of alternative energy uses vast amounts of land.
By suspenseful
@suspenseful (40192)
Canada
May 14, 2008 12:57pm CST
I found this article while going through my ezine on my other email. It says that wind mills, hydro, and wood as well as corn for ethanol will use a vast amount of land, more so than digging for oil and gas.
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB120968760267261321-lMyQjAxMDI4MDA5NDYwODQ3Wj.html
I also found this article http://ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=294959230563446
Now we have people in the States who have to make a decision food or gas. Corn is being used for fuel rather than for feeding people and here in Canada we have this advertisement on Tv with the woman opening a can of food and the roof lifts off her house. So do you believe it is more economical and more right to use more land to produce energy?
2 people like this
5 responses
@coolseeds (3919)
• United States
16 May 08
It might require more land. However I believe they are going about it the wrong way. Why do they need so much land?
If the government would provide rebates or coupons for solar panels for the individual everyone could have solar panels on their roof and it would eliminate so much of the load. Therefore less space would be required to build power stations.
The only problem I see with that is that the power companies would make less money. Oh well. It looks like they will have to look for another way to make money.
When I acquire property I am going to try to be 100% self sufficient. I'll use solar panels and well as wind mills.
I read a book about someone who created an in ground green house to grow food during the winter and the summer. It was a desert environment so the day time temperatures during the summer would have killed the plants. They used a small windmill mounted on a pole to generate heat during the winter and to pump water. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard.
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
16 May 08
In Manitoba we have the right idea. We have experimental wind mills, but we found that we have all this heat going in the ground and into the bed rock and with our winters being so cold and all, the government decided that geo thermo energy is the way to go. All that heat in the rocks can only go up, get the pipes in and then build the houses over them. So now we have at least two housing developments using this form of energy. There are ways dependent on the climate and the location that do not require to dig up all that land.
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
16 May 08
They already are building a pipeline but the enviromentalists are putting in road blocks. So why is it all right to convert wheat fields into corn for ethanol, and put more fields into corn for ethanol and yet not build a pipeline from Alaska that will take less land? It does not seem to make much sense.
And if windmills or whatever use more land than that acquired for a pipeline and they can still pump out the oil without disturbing the environment (it is deep in the ground) why is windmills and solar panels better when they use more land that could be used for houses or for food production?
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
18 May 08
they can lay off building more houses here we need no more and the houses here some have the solar pannels in top of thier houses yup they also can just add on o the pipeline from alaska replace the old pars and put in new when they break
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
19 May 08
Not here in Winnipeg. There are so many people moving here from the other provinces, that as soon as a house is on the market they have people bidding on it and the highest one gets it. Yes and wait until they get a taste of our winter.
Here we have sellers market. Even our house that was 70,000 at best when we bought it, has now almost $200,000 and it is no mansion.
@Thoroughrob (11742)
• United States
4 Jun 08
I don't think corn is going to be the answer. I just can't see that we can grow enough to keep everything going.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
5 Jun 08
I suspect this is a punishing the west for our prosperity. There are many ways to be economical, but you cannot do it at the expense of people's lives and you cannot destroy all the advantages that the industrial revolution brought to make people in the States and Canada be on the same footing as someone in Africa or Asia who herds cattle and has hardly enough to feed his family. We need the corn for food, not so Al Core can make a statement.
@desertdarlene (8910)
• United States
14 May 08
That's kinda been what's bothered me about some of the alternative energy programs. I frequent the desert around Palm Springs and all those windmills are great for producing energy, but they take up so much open space and wreck the beauty of the landscape. At least in that case, it's not using up farmable land. But, at least with corn, it's renewable, but I think we need to rethink things when it comes to people going hungry. I don't think people should go hungry in place of cheaper fuel.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
15 May 08
When we drove through Ohio or was it Omaha, we saw all these corn fields and they certainly were not being used for corn to feed people or the animals. It was for fuel. When we see the windmills, it is the same thing. Right now in Manitoba we are using geo thermo energy and for that you dig really deep and the houses are built over them, and we use the heat that goes into the ground during the summer for the winter months. However, in some cases, they do take up arable land. Even those wind mills we saw, well that land could have been used for someplace. I think those alternative energy people have it all wrong. People should be important and one should not starve someone or deny them a place to live for cheaper fuel.
1 person likes this
@pinkofhealthzfera (60)
• Philippines
18 Jun 08
energy demands in places with winter months are much higher than in tropical areas. in colder places, an alternative energy source better than what can be had from corn must be explored, cause land must be used for food foremost. i think, in every city or community, conserving energy in the individual or family level plus using alternative energy source can do a lot in alleviating dependence in oil. solar panel can generate up 10,000 watts of electricity now. i think every family that consciously conserve energy can lower their energy use below that.
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
18 Jun 08
It gets down to forty below here in January and that is not counting the wind chill. There is only so much we can do and I suppose that those in North Dakota, Montana and Minnesota are just as hard hit. The president has asked congress to release some of the land that the Democrats are blocking for oil production and I hope they comply. He also is approving the production of fuel cells and other alternative supplies.
My solution, make the Democrats who would not release the land for oil production, walk home instead of taking the bus, taxi or their cars. That would wake them up. Oh and do not let them have trips to tropical or sub tropical climates. They can spend winter in Manitoba.
