In USA local authority is derived from the state, so ca legislature can wipe out the county laws with some small legislation. Ianal
Probably not a good precedent to set.
It's a great precedent to set. First solar then high density zoning.
California's San Bernardino County restricts construction of solar, wind farms
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Re: California's San Bernardino County restricts construction of solar, wind farms
#32I gave this a little bit of thought. I agree with the decision, but not at all for the reason that San Bernardino County cites. We have (and California/Western States especially) drastically reduced per capita water consumption over the past few decades. Almost nobody has noticed. This same approach needs to happen with electricity and other forms of energy. We shouldn't build any net new large-scale generation facil…
If it is completely sustainable, why not? There is no need to force uncomfortable, or what amounts to irrelevant, lifestyle changes on anyone if they can live thus without harm. We have the technological capacities to live well without harming the environment, we just choose, or at least have chosen, not to implement them.
On the practical level, we never consume anything, just change its state. So even the most energetic human activity can quite readily be a net neutral activity as long as it is planned with a cyclical reuse in mind.
I see no virtue in reduce if recycle is working well. They are both just practical means to an end. So we should go all in on sustainable systems since they are far, far easier to build than a new psychology and some level of hardship for all society, throughout the entire world - even if that hardship is small.
Re: California's San Bernardino County restricts construction of solar, wind farms
#33Lawmakers want their own share and haven't been given one.
Re: California's San Bernardino County restricts construction of solar, wind farms
#34Re: California's San Bernardino County restricts construction of solar, wind farms
#35It's a fucking desert.
I don't agree with the decision, either, but a desert is a biome
that deserves respect like any other.
Re: California's San Bernardino County restricts construction of solar, wind farms
#36It took me a while to find out why locals were saying solar farms cause dust storms. The locals claim solar farms destabilize the soil. Dust isn’t in the interest of the energy producer because it lowers efficiency so my assumption is that they would do everything to limit dust. I guess I’m surprised that the LA Times would publish a claim like that without comment or caveat.
The locals here cite dust coming from construction not some bizarre Solar Panel dust bowl. If you’ve ever driven through a desert or farm where there is heavy equipment operating it churns up a ton of dust. Not saying it’s a reason to block this but it’s a real thing.
https://www.sbsun.com/2019/02/28/san-bernardino-county-board...
Re: California's San Bernardino County restricts construction of solar, wind farms
#37So the beautiful desert landscapes can not be sullied with these solar panel eyesores.
Fair enough. We should just put the sustainable solar power that these same residents want access to on arable farm land instead?!?
Re: California's San Bernardino County restricts construction of solar, wind farms
#38Strange that such an industrial use isn't seen as benefitting the locals. Or at least not enough of those in power.
Re: California's San Bernardino County restricts construction of solar, wind farms
#39I gave this a little bit of thought. I agree with the decision, but not at all for the reason that San Bernardino County cites. We have (and California/Western States especially) drastically reduced per capita water consumption over the past few decades. Almost nobody has noticed. This same approach needs to happen with electricity and other forms of energy. We shouldn't build any net new large-scale generation facil…
It doesn’t really matter how much electricity you consume if it’s coming from the sun. 1J of energy is 1J of energy. If the sun just hits the desert floor, it’ll heat up the earth immediately. If you collect the energy and convert (some of) it to electricity, whatever’s converted successfully won’t heat up the planet immediately, but it’ll end up back in the form of heat eventually.
There’s really no benefit to decreasing consumption of electricity. There’s no difference between decreasing demand by 1W and increasing solar output by 1W.
Re: California's San Bernardino County restricts construction of solar, wind farms
#40It took me a while to find out why locals were saying solar farms cause dust storms. The locals claim solar farms destabilize the soil. Dust isn’t in the interest of the energy producer because it lowers efficiency so my assumption is that they would do everything to limit dust. I guess I’m surprised that the LA Times would publish a claim like that without comment or caveat.
They’re just reporting what each side is saying without arguing against their claims. They leave it to the reader to make of it what they will. In my personal opinion, this is how reporting should be. Don’t do my thinking for me and don’t lead me in a particular direction. I doubt most people actually believe dust has anything to do with it. They don’t want these infrastructure projects near them, plain and simple.
There are plenty of readers who aren't sophisticated enough to judge for themselves. This is exactly analogous to the vaccine debate. Journalists can and should add context where one side's argument is not supported by evidence.