cover image: Solar Panels and Open Lands

Solar Panels and Open Lands

6 Nov 2024

In 2025, the new Congress and incoming Trump administration should reassess the sprawling 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which handed out vast subsidies for green energy. One reason to reassess is that the cost of the law has ballooned from $390 billion over 10 years to more than $1 trillion. The budget cost of green energy is not the only cost. In the effort to reduce CO2, the IRA subsidies for wind power, solar power, batteries, and electric vehicles are creating negative side effects, including harm to the environment. One concern is the vast land area the Biden administration plans to cover with solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. In August, the administration proposed a Western Solar Plan, which "would make over 31 million acres of public lands across 11 Western states available for potential solar development."
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Authors

Chris Edwards

Pages
2
Published in
United States of America

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