Discussion and Writing Suggestions - Essay Example

The solar power technology has improved dramatically over the years and the largest solar power generation plant is located in the Mojave Desert in the state of California. The solar power generation is through the Concentrated Solar Power where large mirrors are used to concentrate sunlight to produce heat that can be used to produce steam that can turn turbines to produce electricity. Solar power has advantages and disadvantages both to the environment and the economy. There have been various concerns raised by environmentalists on the viability of solar power generation especially through the use Concentrated Solar Power which has various effects on the environment (Demirdjian 2).

The article of Marla Dickerson “state solar plans are as big as all outdoors” points out some of the major environmental concerns that arise due to the setting up of a solar power generation plant in Mojave, California and other solar power stations. These environmental issues are also raised by Peter Maloney in his article “Environmentalists against Solar Power”. The major environmental concerns are the need to use large amounts of water to cool the turbines in a land where water is already a scarce resource.

This implies that more water will be extracted from the desert thus depleting further the underground water resources. Maloney elaborates that the mirrors and the solar panels will need to be washed which will require more water. According to Peter Maloney a successful Solar Power generation can be successfully integrated through the use of rooftop solar energy. This recommendation will eliminate the need to use large tracts of land to generate energy. Behrens and Leonard (87) states that the Mojave, California Solar Power generation occupies 78,490 acres of land in the desert.

Peter Maloney argues that the land is home to many living things which include squirrels, humans and other small animals. The use of this desert land will lead to the reduction in biodiversity since many living organisms are destroyed. Peter Maloney quotes the founder of the Alliance for Responsible Energy Policy, Jim Harvey saying “Our position is that none of this is needed. We support renewable energy, and we support California’s renewable energy targets, but we think it can be done through rooftop solar” Rooftop solar power generation has limited implications on the environment.

Marla Dickerson elaborates how California has the largest and most sophisticated solar thermal facilities in the world that can be utilized effectively to supply energy to the entire state. Marla points out that the dependence of energy from outside the state will be reduced since California will be able to supply its residents with reliable sources of energy. The objections put forward by Maloney and Dickerson are of great significance to the wellbeing of the environment. To provide a clean and habitable environment, human actions must be closely scrutinized in order to make judgments on the positive and negative impacts of human actions.

Use of solar power has various positive impacts on the environment. Murakami (32) points out that solar power helps in the reduction of green house gases which have a negative impact on the ozone layer. Traditional sources of energy generation like the burning of