The role of innovation - Solar, Wind and Land: Conflicts in Renewable Energy Development - page 207

companies, cities, and nations are installing renewable energy systems
because they have concluded that doing so is truly in their own best
economic interests. Falling solar PV costs are leading more and more
homeowners to install solar energy systems on their homes as a way to
lock in and reduce their electricity expenses. As of 2013, the retail giant
Wal-Mart owned more solar energy generating capacity than the total
amount installed in 38 U.S. states combined. 45 And the oil-rich country of
Saudi Arabia is investing roughly $109 billion in pursuit of its ambitious
goal of meeting one third of its electricity needs through solar power by the
year 2032. 46
These trends suggest that simple economics and market incentives might
eventually become the single greatest driver of the global transition to energy
sustainability—not United Nations protocols, carbon taxes, cap-and-trade
schemes, or other policy tools. No other scenario would be more ideal for
the renewable energy sector because genuine market incentives tend to be
far more effective and efficient at spurring concerted worldwide action than
any regulation or tax program. In the meantime, the work of technological
and policy innovation must march aggressively forward, surmounting
barriers one by one until the sustainable energy movement becomes fully
equipped to sustain itself.
Notes
1 For instance, scientists in Germany have developed ways to reduce the loudness
of wind turbines that could help to reduce conflicts over turbine noise.
See Eoin O'Carroll, German Scientists Develop Silencer for Wind Turbines ,
Christian Science Monitor (Aug. 22, 2008), available at www.csmonitor.
com/Environment/Bright-Green/2008/0822/scientists-develop-silencer-for-wind-
turbines (last visited Nov. 7, 2013).
2 See Athanasia Arapogianni & Anne-Benedicte Genachte, Deep Water: The Next
Step for Offshore Wind Energy at 7, European Wind Energy Association (July
2013), available at www.ewea.org/ileadmin/iles/library/publications/reports/
Deep_Water.pdf (last visited July 17, 2013).
3 See id.
4 For example, offshore wind resources in the first 50 nautical miles of of the
U.S. coast total more than 4,000 GW—about four times the nation's current
electricity needs. See Walter Musial & Bonnie Ram, Large-Scale Offshore Wind
Power in the United States at 4, NREL/TP-500-49229 (Sept. 2010).
5 See Daina Lawrence, Canada, U.S. Poised to Catch the Offshore Wind , Globe
and Mail, 2013 WLNR 26579699 (Oct. 23, 2013).
6 See Todd J. Griset, Harnessing the Ocean's Power: Opportunities in Renewable
Ocean Energy Resources , 16 Ocean & Coastal L.J. 395, 398-99 (2011).
7 See Margaret Bryant, Wind Energy in Texas: An Argument for Developing
Offshore Wind Farms , 4 Envt'l. & Energy L. & Pol'y J. 127, 131-32 (2009).
8 See Carolyn S. Kaplan, Esq., Congress, the Courts, and the Army Corps: Siting
the First Offshore Wind Farm in the United States , 31 B.C. Envtl. Aff. L. Rev.
177, 191 (2004).
9 Musial & Ram, supra note 4 at 4.
10 See Climate Wire, Offshore Wind Turbines Keep Growing in Size , Scientific