I enjoyed an analogy made in a recent Renewable Energy World article where Santa Barbara’s Community Environmental Council representative Tam Hunt talks about “The Goldilocks Problem” faced in the struggle to provide enough renewable energy.
Tam points to the arguments that take place over which are the best and worst renewable energy technologies and also over the scale of renewable energy developments. He points to the economic problems of smaller scale renewable energy and the planning consent issues with larger scale renewables such as big wind energy projects.
Small scale domestic technologies such as solar energy, although comparatively quick to deliver from a planning consent point of view, are still relatively expensive. Tam says that different types and sizes of renewable energy projects “all present unique flavors and textures, and I like each in their own special way. But I’m still hungry! Can I please have some more of all three?” – hence the Goldilocks problem.
