Hey, this is a very good question -- thank you for asking. Part of the answer for wind power is the windiest spots in California have already been built out for decades -- the San Gorgonio Pass outside Palm Springs, for instance. Not that there aren't more places wind can be built, but the most economic remaining spots in the American West -- with the strongest winds -- are typically out of state. I get into that more in the Wyoming story: https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2022-08-23/wyoming-clean-energy-california.

With solar, it's definitely much more of a story about developers finding it easier to build in other states -- faster permitting, less environmental opposition, etc. Not that plenty of solar isn't still being built in California, and that there aren't conflicts and critics elsewhere. But your question gets at one of the real tensions here that needs to be worked through. Lots and lots of renewable energy needs to be built, to help maintain a habitable planet for all of us -- now how do we equitably share the costs and benefits of the energy transition?

Trying to help people think through those questions is why I launched Repowering the West: https://www.latimes.com/projects/repowering-the-west/. I hope you'll consider following along!

Yes, that's exactly what I wrote about in the story linked above! https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2021-04-22/solar-power-water-canals-california-climate-change-boiling-point

Hey, that's a really interesting question, thank you! I hadn't heard that before about higher-altitude land, although some quick Googling lends credence: https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/06/04/the-high-altitude-solar-farm-floating-to-success.

Overall, though, I think climate is probably a much bigger factor -- see these NREL maps of U.S. solar resource, showing how much stronger it is in the desert Southwest than elsewhere: https://www.nrel.gov/gis/solar-resource-maps.html

It's all good!

I have a degree in sustainable development, which definitely helped prepare me for the reporting I'm doing now. I didn't study journalism but was the editor in chief of my college newspaper, which was amazing training. I've now been covering energy and the environment for almost nine years.

Another good question -- sorry to say I don't have a great answer to this one. In general, I'd say wave power is one of several technologies that in theory could go a long way toward meeting human energy needs, but which is extremely nascent/untested at a large scale, and therefore pretty difficult to bet a climate-safe future on. Will definitely be interested to see if and how wave energy develops, and if so what the environmental impacts might look like.

Also, you're welcome!

Also true!

The more rooftop solar gets built, definitely, the fewer land-use conflicts and the less destruction of wildlife habitat. But will also caution that every detailed study I've seen still finds a huge need for large solar and wind farms to meet climate goals, even in very optimistic scenarios for rooftop solar. See, for instance: https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2021-01-07/how-rooftop-solar-could-save-americans-473-billion-dollars-boiling-point.

Will have more discussion of this very question in the next part of Repowering the West. Feel free to follow along here: https://www.latimes.com/projects/repowering-the-west/.

Thank you for the question!

Very much hear you on that!

Ooh interesting, I'd never heard about this before! Have written about the potential for solar over canals: https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2021-04-22/solar-power-water-canals-california-climate-change-boiling-point. But bike paths are a new one for me. Any articles or literature you can point me to?

Hey there, you raise a very good point -- huge potential for solar over parking lots without destroying wildlife habitat. France actually just required this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2023/02/06/france-solar-parking-lots/.

Even in a best case scenario for solar on parking lots, rooftops and other spots within the built environment, though, researchers say there will still be a huge need for large solar farms to meet climate goals. I wrote about that reality here: https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2021-01-07/how-rooftop-solar-could-save-americans-473-billion-dollars-boiling-point.

But the more that can go on parking lots and rooftops, the fewer conflicts and challenges overall. Thank you for the good question!

Definitely to the extent that "disturbed" lands of all kinds can be repurposed for renewable energy generation, that likely makes things easier, in terms of avoiding conflicts (and harm) building on undisturbed wildlife habitat in particular. Abandoned mines, Superfund cites, fallow farm fields, etc. -- not to mention rooftops, warehouses, over parking lots and other spots within the built environment. I'd never heard former strip malls brought up, but that could be interesting!

Even with a ton of rooftop solar and stuff built on disturbed sites, I don't think the land use conflicts go away -- see this piece I wrote in 2021: https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2021-01-07/how-rooftop-solar-could-save-americans-473-billion-dollars-boiling-point. But a lot could be avoided.

Thank you for the good question!

Hey there, this is a really interesting question, thank you! Short answer is I'm not sure, although I'm not sure anything significant has changed thus far. Even during the height of work-from-home in 2020, the challenges California experienced on its power grid were pretty much the same as before the pandemic -- rising electric demand on hot summer evenings as people continued to blast their home air conditioners, even as the sun went down and solar generation dropped. I've written about that phenomenon quite a bit, including here: https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2022-09-15/boiling-point-california-epic-heat-wave-over-what-we-learned-boiling-point.

Sorry not to have a better answer to your question. I'll keep thinking about it!

Yes -- not only did I read this study, I wrote about it! For anyone interested, my story is here: https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2022-10-06/solar-and-wind-farms-can-hurt-the-environment-a-new-study-offers-solutions-boiling-point.

Thank you for the good question!

Hey there, thanks very much for the question! You're in luck...I recently wrote a whole story about this: https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2023-01-17/want-to-solve-climate-change-this-california-farm-kingdom-holds-the-key.

Hope you'll take the time to dig in, when you've got it. Short answer is that while some farmers have been happy to strike deals with solar and wind developers, others see renewable energy as a threat to their agricultural way of life -- especially solar farms that take farmland out of production. They're worried about lost jobs, reduced tax revenues and losing water that their communities will never get back. I've heard other concerns that are less based on factual reality, but these ones raise legitimate points.

Like I said, hope you'll read the story to learn more! Please do let me know what you think.

Seriously, I appreciate this -- thank you for sharing.

Gosh, this is such a good question -- and a hard one to answer. The decision-making for this stuff is just so, so diffuse, as it sounds like you're aware. Long distance transmission lines, which we'll likely need a lot more of, are especially hard because of all the private landowners and state and federal agencies involved. See, for instance, this piece I wrote last year about the 15-year process of securing all the leases and approvals needed to build a 730-mile power line to get wind energy from Wyoming to California: https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2022-08-23/wyoming-clean-energy-california.

Is there any hope for a shift away from chronic gridlock? I'm not sure. But trying to help figure that out is why I launched Repowering the West, an ongoing reporting project: https://www.latimes.com/projects/repowering-the-west/. Hope you'll check it out!

Hey, that's a really good question! While I've written quite a bit about the potential for water-saving solar project on farmland (see my latest here: https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2023-01-17/want-to-solve-climate-change-this-california-farm-kingdom-holds-the-key), I haven't heard much about solar on golf courses. To the extent I've heard anything about golf course closures in the Palm Springs region in the California desert (a very Colorado River-dependent, water-stressed place), the conversation has focused on adding housing or preserving walkable open space, basically a public park.

Those things definitely use a lot of water. See this recent piece by my colleague Ian James: https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2023-01-29/colorado-river-in-crisis-desert-lakes-and-golf-courses

There are definitely researchers out there working to improve efficiency at the margins -- which could have a big impact on total electricity generation, given the scale of the solar buildout in the works globally.

I think the most interesting innovation right now is happening with batteries technologies -- improvements in lithium-ion but also development of novel forms of long-duration energy storage, such as iron-air, vanadium flow or underground compressed air storage, which I wrote about last month: https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2023-01-12/this-giant-underground-battery-is-a-1-billion-clean-energy-solution-boiling-point

These stories technologies have huge potential to allow for more solar and wind generation, by balancing out intermittency issues (ie. storing power for when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow).

Hope that's helpful. Thank you for the question!

Hey there, thank you for the question! I personally haven't done much reporting on animal agriculture, but I did write this piece a few years ago about the gas industry's push for "renewable natural gas" harvested from cow manure, and the potential for that push to fuel continued pollution from mega-dairies: https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2020-04-09/cow-poop-california-clean-energy-future.

With regards to your question about animal rights, I'm not sure I have a great answer on that. Obviously there's a wide range of views on that topic, and I imagine a lot of people (even most people?) would disagree that it should be one of the largest stories in our society. That's not necessarily a good reason not to cover, but I imagine it probably has something to do with it.

Most certainly -- every energy technology has its downsides. With solar and wind, destruction of wildlife habitat can be a big one. I wrote about that here, in a story about America's largest wind farm, currently being built by a conservative billionaire in Wyoming: https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2022-08-23/wyoming-clean-energy-california.

That said, it's definitely possible to limit the damage. Also wrote here about research looking at the best places to build solar and wind, with the least harm: https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2022-10-06/solar-and-wind-farms-can-hurt-the-environment-a-new-study-offers-solutions-boiling-point.

Also worth putting into context that the environmental (and human health) damage from fossil fuels is far, far greater than anything from renewable energy. I looked at some of the research on that point here: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-10-05/huntington-beach-orange-county-oil-spill-fossil-fuel-environmental-health-harms.

Hope this is helpful. Thank you for the question!