Apr 14 2009
Solar City, USA
This city, to be called “Babcock Ranch” would be a great idea if it really were a solar city, and that is the eventual plan. It looks cool, right? But according to the Miami Herald, it will only be a solar city by day when the sun is shining and it will get conventionally-generated energy by night. They haven’t figured out a way to store the solar power yet. They will though, and if the smart grid is built, it may be easier for them to do that. Then why do it now? Well, we have to start somewhere. There should be hundreds of these cities all across the country. The sun shines everywhere, not just in the south. And some of the new photovoltaic solar power cells in development will get more energy out of less sun. Overall, a solar powered city is a great idea! The solar power plant, to be a big 75-megawatt plant, will be built regardless of whether the city itself will be built. (No, it’s not built yet.)
The developers are West Palm Beach-based Kitson & Partners. My biggest question is: why do it in Florida, which might be under water soon? My guess is that Florida has such a temperate climate, it won’t get too hot or cold and therefore the inhabitants will use less energy. This is a recent headline from a major UK newspaper:
World will not meet 2C warming target, climate change experts agree
That article from the Guardian says that in the next century, the planet will warm between 4-5 degrees, bypassing the safer levels of only 2 degrees C. That means we are on track to a world we won’t recognize, all in 100-200 years. This rise in temperature seems small, but it’s huge on a global average scale and will lead to a devastating sea rise of between 1 meter and 2.5 meters, by current estimates. That would put much of Florida and especially its cities near the coastline under water. We can say goodbye to parts of Miami and the keys and any at-sea-level city in Florida — and elsewhere — on this planet.
Depressing, isn’t it? And while a solar city, sustainable in all ways possible, is a great idea, it’s much too little and it’s much too late to change our already-in-the-pipeline warming. Even so, these cities need to be built because no one can see into the future with any certainty and it’s possible this will start a wave of sustainable cities being built. Maybe then the old ways of mass consumption and waste will stop in time to stop the worst of global warming. Just don’t bet on that: “Don’t expect much from the next Kyoto “. (Oh great) The “next Kyoto” is the December climate change conference in Copenhagen. This conference is very very important. It’s been described as our “last shot” at doing something about climate change.
