How Much Land?

The Washington Post continues to impress me with its coverage of green issues that seem fair and interested in dealing with fact, not partisanship. Take for example today's piece on the unintended consequences of green energy production.

First off, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the reference to the potential "unintended effect" from an environment project by a journalist. It's about time that journalists realized that just because someone releases a report predicting what the impact of a sports stadium, stimulus program, or bio-diesel MAY be, it doesn't mean that things will turn out exactly, or at all, as the experts predict.

Secondly, check out the estimates from the Nature Conservancy, hardly a bastion of right-wing, global warming deniers, about how much land will have to be in the energy production business by 2030 as we move towards "greener" energy - 79,537 square miles of land. Folks, here's some perspective - the entire state of New York, not the city, the FRIGGING STATE is only 54,566 square miles.

That's right, green energy is going to consume a ton of land. So green means cutting down forests, plowing under wetlands, and building wind turbines and bio-diesel farms. Unless they plan on painting the turbines and solar panels green, I'm not understanding how this is so green.