The alternatives to fossil fuels have several well-known problems, but land use is rarely raised as a limiting factor. Generally this seems to be because only limited solutions for particular geographies are considered. This is a simple analysis of land use for all energy for some major industrial countries. It shows that nuclear, wind and ground solar are very constrained in their ability to scale to a full solution by land use limits alone.
LAND USE km2/TWh/y
Nuclear Wind Ground PV StratoSolar
exclusion 72 77 13 2.5
occupied <1 2 13 <1
The table above shows land use in km2 per TWh per year for various energy alternatives. Exclusion is land area affected but still available for limited use. For nuclear the exclusion area is the international standard 30km radius evacuation zone. This is the area of possible permanent contamination in a major accident and rationally should not include any major urbanization. We assume 5GW plants. For wind the exclusion area is more restricted only allowing agriculture. The area estimate is based on NREL data and assumes an optimistic 5MW/km2. Ground PV exclusion allows for no other use. StratoSolar exclusion use is similar to nuclear allowing anything but dense urban use. Occupied shows the land area actually occupied.
EIA 2009 km2 km2 km2 km2 km2
QuadBtu TWh/y nuclear wind ground PV StratoSolar Total Land
Japan 21.863 4,000 286,707 307,770 50,701 10,140 377,930
Germany 14.355 2,777 199,021 213,642 35,195 7,039 357,114
France 11.29 2,184 156,527 168,026 27,680 5,536 551,500
England 9.349 1,808 129,617 139,139 22,921 4,584 242,900
Spain 6.508 1,259 90,228 96,857 15,956 3,191 505,370
Italy 7.838 1,516 108,668 116,651 19,217 3,843 301,336
USA 99.278 19,203 1,376,412 1,477,528 243,403 48,681 9,526,468
The table above estimates the excluded land area required by each energy alternative to supply all current energy for the major industrialized countries listed and also lists the land area of each country. This gives a sense of the scalability of the different resources. It’s pretty clear that for Japan and Europe wind and nuclear don’t have the room to scale, and ground PV given that it fully uses the land it’s on is also implausibly large. Even the US would find it practically and politically impossible to find the necessary land, once we exclude mountains, rivers and lakes.
The StratoSolar land area required is by far the smallest, and has the least impact on use, excluding only dense urban. Based upon this data, StratoSolar is the only viable alternative for a complete energy solution not constrained by the availability of land.
LAND USE km2/TWh/y
Nuclear Wind Ground PV StratoSolar
exclusion 72 77 13 2.5
occupied <1 2 13 <1
The table above shows land use in km2 per TWh per year for various energy alternatives. Exclusion is land area affected but still available for limited use. For nuclear the exclusion area is the international standard 30km radius evacuation zone. This is the area of possible permanent contamination in a major accident and rationally should not include any major urbanization. We assume 5GW plants. For wind the exclusion area is more restricted only allowing agriculture. The area estimate is based on NREL data and assumes an optimistic 5MW/km2. Ground PV exclusion allows for no other use. StratoSolar exclusion use is similar to nuclear allowing anything but dense urban use. Occupied shows the land area actually occupied.
EIA 2009 km2 km2 km2 km2 km2
QuadBtu TWh/y nuclear wind ground PV StratoSolar Total Land
Japan 21.863 4,000 286,707 307,770 50,701 10,140 377,930
Germany 14.355 2,777 199,021 213,642 35,195 7,039 357,114
France 11.29 2,184 156,527 168,026 27,680 5,536 551,500
England 9.349 1,808 129,617 139,139 22,921 4,584 242,900
Spain 6.508 1,259 90,228 96,857 15,956 3,191 505,370
Italy 7.838 1,516 108,668 116,651 19,217 3,843 301,336
USA 99.278 19,203 1,376,412 1,477,528 243,403 48,681 9,526,468
The table above estimates the excluded land area required by each energy alternative to supply all current energy for the major industrialized countries listed and also lists the land area of each country. This gives a sense of the scalability of the different resources. It’s pretty clear that for Japan and Europe wind and nuclear don’t have the room to scale, and ground PV given that it fully uses the land it’s on is also implausibly large. Even the US would find it practically and politically impossible to find the necessary land, once we exclude mountains, rivers and lakes.
The StratoSolar land area required is by far the smallest, and has the least impact on use, excluding only dense urban. Based upon this data, StratoSolar is the only viable alternative for a complete energy solution not constrained by the availability of land.
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