Recently In a report entitled "On the Rise; Solar Thermal Power & the Fight Against Global Warming" released by Environment Florida, a definitive statement was made that America has the potential to meet all of its current electricity needs with large central concentrating solar power plants.? The report found that solar thermal power plants covering an area of 100 x 100-mile area in the Southwest could power the entire nation while slashing global warming emissions.?

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has identified the potential for many more than 7,000 gigawatts (GW) of concentrating solar power generation on lands in the southwestern United States alone - more than six times current U.S. electricity consumption. There were other areas of the United States mentioned as well, such as Florida, the mountain west, & the Great Plains that can also generate significant power from the sun.

This sounds like a good plan, doesn't it? Deserts in the Southwest are generally large areas of hot, sandy, flat land covered in scrubs, mesquite, and cactus that isn't used for much of anything.? Actually it sounds like the perfect place for large tracts of solar panels lined up to catch the hot desert sun. So would not it be a good idea to use that land for the good of virtually virtually virtually virtually everyone & the environment by establishing solar power plants there producing the electricity that we all need? What could there be to which you could object?

California Senator Dianne Feinstein wrote to the Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar to request that 12 proposed solar plans for the desert lands be scrapped, citing potential habitat destruction. The complaint applies to a small fraction of the 165 pending wind & solar energy leases on 600,000 acres of former railroad land. Feinstein says that developing the land goes against the land's intended purpose & puts wildlife in harm's way.

"Unfortunately, many of the sites now being considered for leases are completely inappropriate & will lead to the wholesale destruction of some of the most pristine areas in the desert," Feinstein wrote in the letter. She is particularly concerned about the desert between Joshua Tree National Park & the Mojave National Preserve. The solar projects could potentially split up the wildlife habitats.

Doesn't this remind you of some of the arguments you hear when people want to build prisons or even airports?? No one wants them in their backyard. Think of all the good that can come from using the desert areas for solar power generation of more than 7,000 gigawatts (GW).? Solar power plants are increasingly cost-competitive with other power generation technologies & do not produce carbon dioxide, the main global warming pollutant. The cost of energy from solar thermal power plants is estimated to be competitive in cost with theoretical coal-fired power plants that capture & store their carbon dioxide emissions & with new nuclear power plants.?