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Re:First new U.S. nuclear reactor since 2016 is now in opera... by jodrellblank on Wednesday December 27, 2023 @05:40PM (#38787736)
Cover 4,000 square miles of the USA in surface car parks[1] and that's freedom. Suggest covering 11,000 square miles of desert in solar panels which don't stop land being used for grazing or crop growing or insects or wildlife, and that's environmental distruction that "even" you would balk at.

[1] https://www.archdaily.com/976069/when-5-percent-of-the-unite...

Re:First new U.S. nuclear reactor since 2016 is now in opera... by internetter on Wednesday December 27, 2023 @06:16PM (#38788055)
Speaking of parking lots, it's not a terrible idea (and it's already been done before) to put solar panels above parking lots
Re:First new U.S. nuclear reactor since 2016 is now in opera... by Turing_Machine on Wednesday December 27, 2023 @06:37PM (#38788227)
False dichotomy.

The people who will be screaming about covering the desert with solar panels are exactly the same people who scream about covering the land with car parks.

Exactly.

The only energy source radical environmentalists like is one that exists only in a fantasy. As soon as it starts being built, it becomes evil.

Note that they're already up in arms about windmills killing birds.

Also, covering the desert is definitely going to change the local environment. At a minimum, every joule that goes into the power transmission lines is a joule that will not be available for use by the desert ecosystem.

Re:First new U.S. nuclear reactor since 2016 is now in opera... by angiosperm on Wednesday December 27, 2023 @09:01PM (#38789124)
The desert ecosystem wastes almost all of its incoming joules. The most valuable commodity in a desert is shade.
Re:First new U.S. nuclear reactor since 2016 is now in opera... by Turing_Machine on Thursday December 28, 2023 @12:17AM (#38790303)
If you were a cactus you'd no doubt disagree.
Re:First new U.S. nuclear reactor since 2016 is now in opera... by angiosperm on Thursday December 28, 2023 @02:38PM (#38797603)
And you have discussed this with a cactus? Or are you still just making things up?