SUN JOURNAL • December 15, 2024
For anyone concerned about the alleged competition between solar energy and American farmland, there is abundant reassurance to be found in simple facts. The DOE states that to meet climate goals for 2050, the U.S. will need 10 million acres of photovoltaics, which is only 1.2% of farmland. In the last 20 years U.S. farmland has decreased by more than 65 million acres, six times what we need for solar. We should be concerned about farmland taken out of food production for reasons other than solar. An acre of corn planted for ethanol produces enough net energy to move a typical internal combustion powered car about 2,500 miles per year. The same acre with solar panels could move a typical electric car 1 to 1.5 million miles per year. ~ Paul Stancioff, Ph.D., emeritus professor of physics, UMaine at Farmington; Cynthia Stancioff, Master of Public Administration