A huge solar generating plant, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Facility, recently opened on federal land near the California/Nevada border, about 45 miles south of Las Vegas.
Besides electricity, it has generated controversy about its impact on the environment.
Almost anyone who lives in Southern California and decides to make the drive to Las Vegas for a weekend on the strip passes through Primm, Nevada, formerly known as Stateline.
One can stop for gas and food across the border and gamble at any of the hotel casinos on the Nevada side.
I remember seeing the huge Ivanpah generating facility for the first time as I approached Primm on the way to Vegas, and being awed by its immensity.
The huge 459 foot towers, and the 300,000 reflecting mirrors, seemed an almost alien vision from a science fiction novel, set down in the formerly empty desert.
The 2.
2 billion dollar facility is owned by NRG Energy, Google, and Oakland's BrightSource Energy, and will produce 400 megawatts of electricity, enough for 140,000 homes, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
I grew up in the desert and appreciate its beauty and the fragility of its ecosystems, easily impacted by development of all kinds.
All too often, desert land is viewed as an underutilized emptiness, but it teems with life.
Bird life has been impacted by the Ivanpah development; birds can be scorched by collisions with the mirrors, and the site intrudes on the habitat of the threatened desert tortoise.
Once again, our human needs and the fact that we share space on the planet with other life forms require a careful balancing act.
Environmental groups and solar developers have worked together to try to protect displaced wildlife and to insure that future desert developments include conservation measures.
Critics argue that solar plants such as Ivanpah exist only because of federal subsidies of money and land, and yet coal, gas, and oil production have also been subsidized in the similar ways, through foreign tax credits, tax breaks for exploration and development, and other methods.
The federal government has also, obviously, subsidized the space program and other forms of scientific and industrial enterprise in the past, and will do so again in the future, and so such efforts are nothing new.
The question remains, will they be successful in producing energy to meet the needs of our society? I felt concerned when Sun Power completed construction on California Valley Solar in the once pristine Carrizo Plain in central California near San Luis Obispo, near where I grew up.
The project received a 1.
2 billion dollar loan guarantee; Ivanpah also has benefited from the same federal loan guarantee program.
The program's two other completed solar power projects are the 280-megawatt Solana by Abengoa Solar in Arizona and the 150-megawatt Mesquite Solar project in Arizona by Sempra Generation.
My family worked in the oil industry, and as a child I rode my bicycle through a desert landscape dotted with oil pumps and studied, played, and fell asleep to the constant sound of humming refineries.
I understand that energy generation provides jobs and supports our way of life.
As we look to the future of energy production in California and the West, development of alternatives to our dependence on coal, gas, and oil will inevitably happen.
Even so, that does not imply a problem-free implementation for the new technologies, for the humans, or the desert ecosystem, including birds, and tortoises.
How much is the life of an individual tortoise actually worth? And is that computed as part of the cost of generating electricity? So far, according to Bloomberg Business Week, BrightSource has spent 56 million to rescue and relocate tortoises impacted by construction of its Mojave solar plant.
The Museum of the Living Desert in Palm Desert, California, has a variety of desert flora and fauna to explore when visiting the zoo and gardens; it's a popular family attraction, and it also provides wildlife rehabilitation.
Possibly, you can meet a tortoise there, should you happen to visit the Coachella Valley, and take some time to pause and think about the answer to these questions.
And what would it cost us, I wonder, if there were no tortoises left at all?
Besides electricity, it has generated controversy about its impact on the environment.
Almost anyone who lives in Southern California and decides to make the drive to Las Vegas for a weekend on the strip passes through Primm, Nevada, formerly known as Stateline.
One can stop for gas and food across the border and gamble at any of the hotel casinos on the Nevada side.
I remember seeing the huge Ivanpah generating facility for the first time as I approached Primm on the way to Vegas, and being awed by its immensity.
The huge 459 foot towers, and the 300,000 reflecting mirrors, seemed an almost alien vision from a science fiction novel, set down in the formerly empty desert.
The 2.
2 billion dollar facility is owned by NRG Energy, Google, and Oakland's BrightSource Energy, and will produce 400 megawatts of electricity, enough for 140,000 homes, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
I grew up in the desert and appreciate its beauty and the fragility of its ecosystems, easily impacted by development of all kinds.
All too often, desert land is viewed as an underutilized emptiness, but it teems with life.
Bird life has been impacted by the Ivanpah development; birds can be scorched by collisions with the mirrors, and the site intrudes on the habitat of the threatened desert tortoise.
Once again, our human needs and the fact that we share space on the planet with other life forms require a careful balancing act.
Environmental groups and solar developers have worked together to try to protect displaced wildlife and to insure that future desert developments include conservation measures.
Critics argue that solar plants such as Ivanpah exist only because of federal subsidies of money and land, and yet coal, gas, and oil production have also been subsidized in the similar ways, through foreign tax credits, tax breaks for exploration and development, and other methods.
The federal government has also, obviously, subsidized the space program and other forms of scientific and industrial enterprise in the past, and will do so again in the future, and so such efforts are nothing new.
The question remains, will they be successful in producing energy to meet the needs of our society? I felt concerned when Sun Power completed construction on California Valley Solar in the once pristine Carrizo Plain in central California near San Luis Obispo, near where I grew up.
The project received a 1.
2 billion dollar loan guarantee; Ivanpah also has benefited from the same federal loan guarantee program.
The program's two other completed solar power projects are the 280-megawatt Solana by Abengoa Solar in Arizona and the 150-megawatt Mesquite Solar project in Arizona by Sempra Generation.
My family worked in the oil industry, and as a child I rode my bicycle through a desert landscape dotted with oil pumps and studied, played, and fell asleep to the constant sound of humming refineries.
I understand that energy generation provides jobs and supports our way of life.
As we look to the future of energy production in California and the West, development of alternatives to our dependence on coal, gas, and oil will inevitably happen.
Even so, that does not imply a problem-free implementation for the new technologies, for the humans, or the desert ecosystem, including birds, and tortoises.
How much is the life of an individual tortoise actually worth? And is that computed as part of the cost of generating electricity? So far, according to Bloomberg Business Week, BrightSource has spent 56 million to rescue and relocate tortoises impacted by construction of its Mojave solar plant.
The Museum of the Living Desert in Palm Desert, California, has a variety of desert flora and fauna to explore when visiting the zoo and gardens; it's a popular family attraction, and it also provides wildlife rehabilitation.
Possibly, you can meet a tortoise there, should you happen to visit the Coachella Valley, and take some time to pause and think about the answer to these questions.
And what would it cost us, I wonder, if there were no tortoises left at all?
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