Evidently There's No Good Place to Put Power Production

Sen. Diane Feinstein gives us an example of why it is going to be difficult to site any type of power production, even renewables, in the future. She is opposing solar energy projects in the Mojave desert. As the LA Times reported, this is an example of how hard it is going to be to realize Pres. Obama's dream of expanded generation from renewables.

All of this makes gas-fired and coal-fired plants, putting out lots of power from a relatively small area, look like a reasonable part of the energy mix to some of us.

These are solar thermal plants, which use mirrors to concentrate light to heat a medium which is then used to heat water to produce steam and drive a turbine. They cover hundreds of acres, and would necessarily have some impact on the desert. But to paraphrase the Governator, if you can't put solar plants in the desert, where can you put them? Anyone who has been in that part of the country will realize there is a lot of sun-baked desert there, and a few thousand acres won't be missed.

I know, I know, the answer is conservation. But the trouble is we will need additional sources of power if growth is to continue. And low cost sources of power, as we all hope solar eventually will be, is not going to reduce the need for power sources. In fact, low cost power only drives the market for more power-guzzling stuff. It's only expensive power, which no politician wants to support, that would dampen usage.