I assume "pave over" is an alliteration to the fact that even if there isn't square miles of pavement you are in fact destroying ecosystems.
Who honestly thinks that solar panel farms involve actual square miles of pavement?
Who honestly thinks that solar panel farms involve actual square miles of pavement?
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/utility-scale-sol...
Erthos' panels are not solar freakin roadways, because they're fenced off, and only maintenance robots drive on them.
"pave over" has a pretty distinct meaning even in its figurative uses, referring to the encapsulation of the ground surface with asphalt or concrete, as happens in cities or with major highways. Solar panels aren't really the same, when you consider that they are now being used to shelter crops via agrivoltaics [1], increasing yields and decreasing water use while also providing supplemental income to farmers via electricity sales.
> even if there isn't square miles of pavement you are in fact destroying ecosystems
More likely modifying ecosystems, not destroying them altogether. Remember that the actual "paving over" of ecosystems - via roads, etc - and the fossil fuel extraction industry have and continue to do far more damage to ecosystems than any renewable generation has. The Kern River oil field near Bakersfield CA isn't exactly the picture of prime wildlife habitat anymore:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/KernRive...
Even the scientist at the forefront of research into the concern about desert ecosystems says [2]:
""It's certainly going to damage some of the ecology. I think that's a tradeoff we have to accept. It's part of becoming less reliant on oil, and more reliant on solar and wind power."
1. https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/articles/potential-agrivol...