Written on: July 29, 2024
One of the significant problems with compelling U.S. households, businesses and vehicles to go all-electric — beyond denying energy choice and imposing massive expenses on Americans — is that our electric grid is not especially green.
Right now, over half of all U.S. grid generation comes from natural gas and coal. And the push to decarbonize the grid by going all-in on solar and wind generation creates a series of issues. Solar and wind generation is less predictable than that of traditional sources, and storage technology isn’t where it needs to be. You cannot easily deploy this electricity when demand rises from residential and commercial users. The overall risk from abandoning traditional generation sources in favor of untested renewable sources is a rise in blackouts during periods of extreme heat and cold.
Moreover, pushing for more solar fields and wind turbines on tillable land makes the space permanently inaccessible to produce feedstocks for renewable propane and other bioenergy products that lower emissions immediately.
In the rush to add more wind farms and solar panels, we’re running up against the issue of where to put them. Harvard researchers published two studies in recent years, finding that the U.S. transition to wind and solar will require five to 20 times more land area than previously estimated.
Huge fields of solar panels will take up much of this space. As you can see in the chart below, solar panels require some of the most land area per megawatt-hour. The space needs of on-shore wind farms are highly variable, depending on the placement of the turbines, but it’s reasonable to expect a decent amount of land to go to them as well.
David Keith, the senior author of the Harvard papers, said, “Wind beats coal by any environmental measure, but that doesn’t mean that its impacts are negligible … We must make choices between various low-carbon technologies, all of which have some social and environmental impacts.”
Farmland is a prime target for solar panel and wind turbine developers because of its wide-open fields, which allow unfettered access to sunlight and wind. Whether agricultural businesses are getting outbid for plots or simply find it more financially appealing to lease or sell acres to developers, the U.S. ends up losing tillable land.
This is a considerable problem for food production, but it also shrinks the pool of available feedstocks for proven renewable biofuels, including renewable propane (rPG). Not only could this land be used for dedicated feedstocks like corn and soybeans, but the agricultural waste of food crops can also be used in bioenergy. Livestock waste is a vital feedstock for renewable dimethyl ether (rDME), a low-carbon bio-gas that can be blended with conventional propane and rPG.
Additionally, we’re seeing incredible results with low-resource oilseed crops like Camelina, which can grow on otherwise fallow land and produce ready-to-use bioenergy.
Renewable propane and other renewable liquid gases deliver efficient direct energy to end users. Their carbon intensity is already far lower than the average U.S. grid electricity, which also loses an incredible amount of energy in generation and transmission.
When we consider the best way to address climate change, we need to make room for all green technologies that can lower emissions and reach our necessary goals. There are essential roles for wind and solar, but their implementation shouldn’t come at the cost of other renewable energy sources. (Off-shore wind turbines and elevated solar panels could offer a better alternative.)
Renewable propane, rDME and other proven bioenergy products are already in the mix, slashing greenhouse gas emissions from homes, businesses and vehicles. These are valuable additions to a diverse, sustainable and affordable green energy mix.
Want to learn more about the development and production of low-carbon liquid gases and access this rapidly expanding supply chain? Join the Renewable Propane Alliance.
Sources:
Harvard School of Engineering, “Large-scale wind power would require more land and cause more environmental impact than previously thought.”
U.S. Energy Information Administration, “Net generation, United States, all sectors, monthly.”
Our World in Data, “How does the land use of different electricity sources compare?”
The Propane Education & Research Council, “Renewable Propane.”