New Report: Using Renewables to Slash Emissions by 80 Percent Requires Texas-sized Territory

NEW YORK, NY  – Politicians from Bill de Blasio to President Obama have embraced the “80 by 50” pledge, which promises an 80 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by the year 2050. A new report by the Manhattan Institute’s Robert Bryce shows that the land-use implications of using renewables to attempt such a drastic reduction would be disastrous for wildlife and will further inflame the growing rural resistance to “green” energy projects.

Bryce finds that relying on renewable energy to attempt an 80 percent reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions will require covering more than 287,700 square miles of territory with energy infrastructure—an area nearly as large as Texas and West Virginia combined.

Bryce also shows that:

• 80 by 50 would require the U.S. to install four to five times as much wind capacity as currently exists on the entire planet.
• The energy sprawl that would accompany a large-scale renewable push will further fuel the growing rural backlash against green energy: since early 2015, more than 100 governmental entities in about two dozen states have moved to restrict or reject wind-energy projects.
• Such an all-renewable decarbonization effort will require installing more than 200,000 miles of expensive new high-voltage transmission lines—more than double the existing amount of high-voltage transmission capacity.
• Dedicating such a large land area to wind and solar poses a major threat to wildlife including birds and bats; wind energy is already the largest killer of bats.

Bryce concludes that nuclear and natural gas continue to be the energy sources that can provide the largest decarbonization benefits at the lowest cost.

Click here to read the full report.