Hacker News Reader

Is energy independence and lower land use priced in?

There is a lot of empty practically free land in the world.

Also, it is estimated that it would take about ~7 million acres to power the US entirely with solar. The US currently uses about 40 million (!!!!) acres for corn for ethanol.

Land is just not a problem, at all.

https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/how-much-land-power-us....

https://frontiergroup.org/resources/ethanols-outsized-place-....

Land is not a problem in land-rich nations like Russia or Canada, of the US for that matter. It is however a problem in Europe where distances are shorter, population density is higher and so are the land values and thus both direct & shadow costs associated with infrastructure development.

Average price of arable land in the EU in 2022 was a shade over 10,000 euros/hectare.

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php...

At this price, the cost of land is quite small compared to the cost of a PV field on that land.

Land is a small fraction of the cost of a renewable energy source (save for biomass), especially in lesser populated regions.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com