"My experience is that people whose homes have burned down are unhappy that their homes burned down. It is also my experience that this is a fringe opinion"
No, but I was trying to illustrate the absurdity of dismissing these as 'fringe' opinions, simply because they only apply to the segment of the population that are actually going through it.
Seeing them feels dystopian. I actually don't think that opinion is so fringe. There were lots of environmental protesters when the solar farm near us went up. The valley was rich in low shrubs and wildlife, and even some forest was leveled. A multi billion dollar energy company destroyed it to pick up their share of the free government funding while powering less than 2% of homes.
Sure, it's better than a gas refinery or some other things you could find yourself living next to. But let's not ignore what's bad about our current solutions.
Get rid of the ethanol mandate. Replace those acres of corn with solar panels and an understory of native plants. One likely biased source I read a while back said that about 1/3 of this land would be sufficient to power all the cars and trucks in the US if they were all EVs.
Seeing a big solar farm out in the desert does feel cyverpunk’esque/dystopian in a way. I suppose it’s the juxtaposition of new technology with the harsh natural beauty of a desert.
Not all deserts are sand dunes. Many are very rich in plant and animal life and can be excellent for certain crops, given some basic irrigation. A great many are in cold climates. If you saw what they call a desert when there's money on the table, I would venture to guess you'd side with the environmental groups that opposed the location I was referring to. I have no doubt.
What I mean is that solar is good, and I support using it in a lot of places. But it's also open to bad decisions like everything else, so I try not to be a zealot about it. It's not the end all perfect cure for energy and it doesn't save the environment in all cases. Just in many.
Like what?