NPR - Protecting Part of the Mojave Desert from Being Leveled and Graveled for Solar Energy Collection Systems

David Lewis said:

The fact that you "dislike" solar as opposed to merely ignoring it as irrelevant to the larger scheme of things, as I see it, comes from the way the solar touts attack your favored technology.  What you do is debate using facts and logic, whereas the solar touts debate using lies and distortion. It is incredible that types like Lovins or Joe Romm have gotten so far without losing credibility for their lies, and it is far past time for people to call them out as planet killers, for spreading confusion at a time of crisis. 

For example.  Joe Romm appeared on stage with his former university teacher Ernie Moniz  (Romm took advanced electromagnetism from Moniz at MIT) at Dartmouth recently.  The occasion was a "Second Great Issues in Energy" forum on nukes and climate.  Moniz spoke, then Romm, then Alex Glaser, then a Q&A.  During the Q&A Moniz told the crowd Romm had lied.  "Romm is not correct", said Moniz, and:  "This is untrue".  It was Moniz, not Romm, who mentioned repeatedly that he"didn't have a horse" in this race, i.e. he wasn't so concerned that one technology or another would prevail.  Romm even trotted out the fashionable we don't need baseload" line which is emanating from Wellinghof by saying Wellinghof is "in a position to know".  Moniz said I don't care who is saying it this is a load of BS.  As the questioning went on, Romm fleshed out his solar thermal dream saying, essentially, roll out the technology by building as much of it as you can no matter what the cost is now and the costs will come down as the learning curve proceeds.  Moniz then took the floor and said "I am just, neutrally, going to quote my colleague John Deutch": 

 "Learning curves are the refuge of scoundrels",

 then, pointedly, he said to Romm:  "You can argue with John". 

 Romm, somewhat taken aback, said: "I would never argue with John". 

The solar clowns should stop emotionally attacking nuclear as if anti-nukism were their religion, and nukes could stop actively disliking them.  

 Re, the environmental impact of solar thermal:  Rod interviewed a then California State Assemblyman, Chuck Devore, on the topic of solar thermal, on one of his The Atomic Shows:

 "And you need to honestly take a look at what's happening out in the desert.  I've visited the solar fields out at Cramer Junction.  They produce as I recall about 135 MW of power.  They are solar thermal fields that have been up probably for about 20 years now.  In other words not very much power.  And they cover about 1000 acres or so.  And what I was struck by when I went out to visit them was the fact that there was no plant or animal life whatsoever underneath those panels.  The entire 1000 acre area was a dead zone, because the plants are a fire hazard for the parabolic trough mirrors.  And they spray like an herbicide to keep the plants from growing and to keep the dust down because the dust and sand ablade the mirrors and increases their maintenance costs.  And so what I found somewhat interesting was that in that entire area it was devoid of any life.  Now people who don't live in the desert may think that's all well and good, there's no life out there anyway, but as a guy who has spent a lot of time out in the eastern High Sierra I can tell you there's a lot of life out there....  

How much of the desert are we willing to cover?  Because the energy density of solar power is so minimal compared to the energy density of something like nuclear power where you can produce hundreds of times the amount of electricity on a much smaller imprint on the ground...."