In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Grace Wu, an assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, about the intersection of land use change and the adoption and implementation of clean energy technologies. Wu discusses the impacts of land use change on species and ecosystems, the land use requirements of different clean energy technologies, and strategies that can help us meet net-zero energy targets while minimizing negative impacts on habitats and ecosystems.

References and recommendations:

“Minimizing habitat conflicts in meeting net-zero energy targets in the western United States” by Grace C. Wu, Ryan A. Jones, Emily Leslie, James H. Williams, Andrew Pascale, Erica Brand, Sophie S. Parker, Brian S. Cohen, Joseph E. Fargione, Julia Souder, Maya Batres, Mary G. Gleason, Michael H. Schindel, and Charlotte K. Stanley; https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2204098120

“Clean Energy Solutions that Protect People and Nature in the West” from The Nature Conservancy; https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-priorities/tackle-climate-change/climate-change-stories/power-of-place/

“Does the world need hydrogen to solve climate change?” by Simon Evans and Josh Gabbatiss; https://www.carbonbrief.org/in-depth-qa-does-the-world-need-hydrogen-to-solve-climate-change/

“Carbon Brief” website; https://www.carbonbrief.org/

“How green are biofuels? Scientists are at loggerheads” by Dan Charles; https://knowablemagazine.org/article/food-environment/2022/how-green-are-biofuels

“Knowable” Magazine; https://knowablemagazine.org/