| Work Detail |
Columbia Law School collected and refuted 33 false claims against clean energy technology as part of its ongoing research into climate change.
At first, many people were unaware of what solar energy could do; Solar energy was seen as a trendy space science experiment. Then, as solar energy began to grow and the technology matured, they laughed at how small the volume being installed was compared to the huge volumes of coal, gas and oil being extracted daily.
Now, solar power and, more recently, energy storage, are being deployed more than any other energy source, and opposition sometimes takes the form of the spread of misinformation by centralized, fossil fuel-financed sources. in order to affect the local acceptability of solar energy. And it has had an effect.
The Sabin Center for Climate Change at Columbia Law School compiled fourteen false claims about solar energy in its document Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind , and Electric Vehicles. .
Among its previous work on climate, the law school has launched the Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative in 2019, as well as published debates on legislation that could slow the deployment of renewable energy.
The list of false claims about solar energy debunked were:
Electromagnetic fields from solar farms are harmful to human health.
Toxic heavy metals, such as lead and cadmium, leach from solar panels and pose a threat to human health.
Solar panels generate too much waste and will overwhelm our landfills.
Cutting down trees to build solar panels negates any climate change benefits.
Solar energy is worse for the climate than burning fossil fuels.
Solar projects damage biodiversity.
Solar projects will reduce agricultural production, harming farmers and rural communities.
The development of solar energy will destroy jobs in the United States.
Reliance on solar energy will make the United States dependent on China and other countries.
Solar farms destroy the value of nearby homes.
Solar energy is more expensive than fossil fuels and depends entirely on subsidies.
Solar panels do not work in cold or cloudy weather.
Solar energy is unreliable and requires 100% fossil fuel backup.
We do not have sufficient mineral resources to develop large-scale solar energy.
Although solar energy is very popular, in fact it is the most popular source of electricity in the United States, there are nuances within this popularity. Rooftop solar is the most popular, but is encountering opposition as it grows beyond 20 hectares. And while clean, renewable energy itself is also very popular, there are misinformation campaigns funded by the fossil fuel industry that can significantly alter popular opinion.
The Sabin Center report does not examine the origins of the false claims, nor the motivations of those who spread them. Each of the fourteen statements was answered individually, creating fully developed responses that sometimes repeated information from other rebuttals.
For example, in refuting false claim No. 10 that solar farms destroy the value of nearby homes, analysts showed that very few people would have their home values ??affected by the proximity of solar energy, and those who would If they noticed it they would experience a small change in value. They also found that some could experience an increase in property values.
The research showed that, in the state of Indiana, “properties located within 400 meters of solar farms sold 1.92% more on average than comparable properties that were not located near any solar farms.” They also found that “homes located within 0.8 km of solar farms experienced price reductions of 1.5%, compared to properties located 3.2 to 6.4 km away; However, homes located more than 1.6 km from a solar farm did not experience any statistically significant effect on their price.”
A third study indicated that within 1.6 km, in suburban areas, there could be a 1.7% decrease in property value, but in rural areas, this price difference disappeared.
The analysis also noted that “the presence of a fossil fuel-powered power plant less than 3.2 km from the home decreased its value between 4% and 7%, with the largest decreases within a radius of 1.6 km and for large capacity plants.”
Although misinformation abounds in the country, and almost all large solar installations receive some rejection, it is also true that the volume of solar installations that are being successfully deployed far outweighs the detractors. For example, deployed capacity grew by more than 50%, and solar capacity in the queues has exceeded and remains above 1,000 GW.
However, it is also true that large-scale solar energy has seen its popularity decline somewhat. Although many of these clichés have long been debunked as false, the report was written to help “cultivate balanced and informed opinions,” especially among residents of communities contemplating large-scale renewable energy projects. |
