In fact the best places in Germany for Solar don't even quite get up to the absolute worst places in the US in terms of Solar potential. Yet Germany is doing well for itself with Solar. If they can do it with a higher over all population density (or at least I imagine so) plus less overall resource per square foot then we have no excuse.

THEY WON'T DEAL WITH IT IN MY BACKYARD.

Germany started a lot earlier as well, I believe. I remember my secondary school gradually generating more and more electricity by solar. It was a public school, too. So yeah, despite lower short-term potential, they've put more resources into building up the infrastructure.
Strangely, the oil industry is a lot less powerful over there. Coincidences, eh?

Since Germany was being hyped up as the example for solar power generation I wanted to see what it was they were doing.

What it looks like is that the Germans are focusing on multiple renewable sources (like wind, biomass, landfill gas, hydro and geothermal - includes solar) while they are trying to decommission their nuclear power supply (which may be halted) and other fossil fuel plants. And here's an article talking about their renewable energy law.

And I'm surprised, people here are so focused on wind and solar - they haven't mentioned damless hydroelectric power generation. Seems like this would be useful since it doesn't rely on taking up actual land to build a wind or solar farm and the environmental impact seems to be negligible and even beneficial depending on how they build the turbines.

"Fuck endangered wildlife - I'm concerned about the environment"?

Unfortunately it's a legitimate concern when dealing with endangered wildlife, and it's something the county is having to deal with and study before they move forward with any future wind power plans.

To be frank, it's less that I'm not concerned about endangered wildlife and more that I'm considering that the bats would have to be flying roughly 200 meters in the air just to get up to blade height and that doesn't strike me as being a good height for bugs in the first place, and there's no indication that the bats wouldn't just avoid it altogether. It's a possibility, not a confirmed danger, and the only way that data is going to be collected is to build one and see what happens. You're scare-mongering as if these things are designed to seek and destroy wildlife with extreme prejudice. Yeah, if it DOES cause problems with the bats, then it's not a good idea. Where there are groups of bats living. And it's all hunky-dory where there aren't any.

You know what? Fuck it, Blues. Yes, I'm scare-mongering! How dare I link an article that defies the great power of Wind!

Is it because I'm a secret fossil fuelist? Oh gods, what have I become!?

Put it my backyard. The less pleasant, the better -- I hate my neighbors.

Oh, God, is that really where this is going? I'm saying that fears over the countless deaths of innocent wildlife are greatly exaggerated with current technology. Not that it doesn't happen, but that it doesn't happen as much as people think. This is called realism.

People are simply WAY too apt to shout about how alternative energy won't work in their area, but in my search for sources, I came up with a paper about putting solar in Antarctica. Ant-fucking-arctica. Mull that over once.

I think it's time people stop nay-saying and actually look at some updated facts. You've taken an entirely adversarial stance to things here where it isn't even warranted and I'm frankly done debating with you until you cool your jets and take a look at current info instead of posting what amounts to "this might be a problem maybe" and throwing it around like a grim certainty.

See, this is why I said I'd like to see more info, because if it IS a problem, then yeah, one spot turbines can't go, but you're not even giving it a chance to explore that. And then there are plenty of other options that'll work just fine, like hot-oil-and-mirror solar plants or any number of things.

Hey blues I saw this crazy debate method where you AREN'T a condescending douche, maybe you should look it up?

Hell, I'm down with that. Animals can suck it.

I'm sorry, I was trying that, but it seems that it only made things spiral to the point where someone exploded at me for questioning their information. I think I have a right to a small negative reaction of my own.

You know, normally I step back and cool off for this kind of shit, but no amount of stepping back and cooling off is going to make me not see it as a giant fuck you.

I'm done trying to be reasonable and I'm done here.