California’s Brilliant Opportunity
Conservation plan unveiling highlights state’s ability to build solar where it’s most needed: cities
Earlier this month, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced the adoption of the long-awaited “Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan” (DRECP), which provides direction for renewable-energy development on 10 million acres of public lands in California. While conservation plan unveilings might not sound especially exciting, this particular announcement is a huge deal. We finally have a plan in place that will help spur renewable energy development in designated areas while also preventing new, poorly-sited renewable energy projects from encroaching on the most sensitive desert habitats and harming imperiled wildlife populations.
Unfortunately energy industry groups, largely influenced by large-scale utility developers who would profit from unrestricted access to desert lands, have consistently fought desert conservation. The industry claims that by designating important conservation areas, the plan hinders renewable energy progress. This is despite the fact that the land allotted for development in the plan — more than 600 square miles — is more than sufficient for California to meet its renewable energy targets to support our climate goals.
Here’s the best part: We don’t even need to use that land to power California. The conservation plan not only creates the opportunity to protect our deserts but it also opens up the conversation about where we should be developing solar in the Golden State — cities.
California is a solar leader by almost every metric relative to other states, but it still has yet to break the surface of its true solar potential. According to a 2015 study published in Nature Climate Change, if California were to maximize solar energy deployment within the already-built environment, the state could power its energy needs three to five times over. That’s not even taking into account new and emerging technologies that could be deployed, such as solar roadways and integrating solar on the facades of existing structures. As climate change and overcrowding threaten what’s left of California’s pristine deserts, it’s necessary to minimize additional negative impacts to the environment. In deciding how to build up our renewable energy resources to replace the dying fossil fuel industry, we have the opportunity to call for energy that’s good for people and for wildlife. When placed on existing infrastructure like rooftops and parking lots, solar energy is a clear winning option — with negligible climate, water and land footprints relative to other energy sources.
California can become the model for what a truly sustainable and just energy future looks like. And the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan is only a first step in what will hopefully be a series of actions to direct California toward this goal.
Don’t listen to the naysayers — California has the opportunity to pave the way for renewable energy progress without paving over the planet. By taking full advantage of solar potential within the already-built environment, Californians can prove that it’s possible to transition to a just and clean energy system without compromising the well-being of the wildlife and wild places that make the state so special.
Greer Ryan is the sustainability research associate at the Center for Biological Diversity.
