The top 10 energy sources

Stanford Professor Mark Jacobson

Stanford Professor Mark Jacobson

I was disappointed when I discovered that the list of experts at last week’s Clean Energy Summit would not include Stanford University’s Mark Jacobson. Of course, no individual is indispensable at such a summit. But as the day went by I felt his absence more and more keenly.

That’s because Jacobson is one of the few scientists looking at energy’s Big Picture. How big?

In an article published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science earlier this year, Jacobson reported the first quantitative, scientific study evaluating the top energy sources based on:

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Solar farms that sip desert water

SunCatchers

SunCatchers™

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) gets a bad rap from desert dwellers. First, there’s the concern over disturbing some of our wildest areas to build sprawling solar farms. Many object to how the giant sites can ruin their view of the desert.

But the biggest concern is over what these lands possess in minute amounts.

“Water usage is becoming the larger issue,” a lawyer for one solar power company told a reporter in April.

Depending on the design, CSP can use up to 750,000 gallons of water for each GWh of electrical production (roughly the same as a comparable coal or nuclear power plant). Continue reading