Scary

What do you think of this plan to solve the energy problem with solar power?
Saturday, April 3rd, 2010 at 2:55 pm

Construct a 30,000 square mile array of solar panels in the Southwest along with concentrated solar power arrays and a massive direct-current power transmission backbone to distribute electricity throughout the country. Excess power produced by the photovoltaic arrays would be distributed and stored as compressed air in below-ground caverns.

(Blogger's Note: This article is from and about the US and solar power. What if this was wind power and SW Nova Scotia?)

With a massive investment in solar power plants and infrastructure, solar could provide 69% of US electricity and 35% of total energy (including transportation) by 2050.
If wind, biomass, and geothermal power sources were also developed, the US could produce 100% of its electricity and 90% of its transportation energy from renewable sources. To make this happen, the US would have to invest $10 billion per year for the next 40 years. For comparison, the US is now spending $12 billion per month for military involvement Iraq and Afghanistan

http://gas2.org/2008/03/25/how-solar-panels-could-power-90-of-us-transportation/

What do you think?
If you’re just going to dismiss the suggestion off-hand with no good reason, don’t bother to answer the question.

For those saying nuclear is the only solution, I suggest you read the best answer to this question: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvbtgI1im3pK.PoH1Qb02YkAAAAA;_ylv=3?qid=20080528094715AAcnVM3
The full plan is available here: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan

Some other key points:

“the land required for each gigawatt-hour of solar energy produced in the Southwest is less than that needed for a coal-powered plant when factoring in land for coal mining.”

“To meet the 2050 projection, 46,000 square miles of land would be needed for photovoltaic and concentrated solar power installations. That area is large, and yet it covers just 19 percent of the suitable Southwest land. Most of that land is barren; there is no competing use value. And the land will not be polluted. We have assumed that only 10 percent of the solar capacity in 2050 will come from distributed photovoltaic installations—those on rooftops or commercial lots throughout the country. But as prices drop, these applications could play a bigger role”

from windpowerspot.com