Thorium

Environmentalist are often concerned about land usage and many projects have been derailed because of danger to some species. Different forms of energy production need different amounts of land. To produce one megawatt of power with wind uses 64 acres of land. One megawatt with solar takes 10 acres and one megawatt with nuclear takes 0.6 acres. Thorium nuke plants use even less space. Wind and solar plants are placed far from the use point because of these land requirements whereas thorium nuke plants can be built close to the use site and thus minimize the transmission lines. Wind and solar need a back up for when the wind doesn't blow and sun doesn't shine but nuke power is on 24/7. The materials needed for wind and solar damage the environment both when mined and later when recycled. Thorium creates little damage to mine and creates little waste. To power the United States with wind would need 1.26 million wind mills occupying 24 million acres which is about half the size of North Dakota. To use thorium nuke plants would require 600,000 acres