Bad Idea #42 "not enough land for renewables" with Tom Heap

Bad Idea #42 "not enough land for renewables" with Tom Heap

From Saving the World From Bad Ideas by WePlanet

March 4, 2026 · 56 min · Season 3 · Episode 42

About this episode

Mark Lynas interviews Tom Heap about the misconceptions surrounding land use for renewable energy and the broader implications for environmental issues.

Is there really not enough land for renewables? In this conversation, Mark Lynas sits down with Tom Heap—BBC Countryfile presenter, Radio 4's Rare Earth co-host, and author of Land Smart: How to Give People and Nature the Space to Thrive —to tackle one of the most important yet least discussed environmental issues: land use. Heap makes the case that there's plenty of space for solar (and wind has minimal footprint), especially since solar excels at multifunctional use—combining with housing, car parks, farming, and floating on water bodies. The real land crisis? Livestock occupies a third of Earth's land and over half of agricultural land, delivering 6-16 times less protein per acre than crops. Meanwhile, biofuels require 50-100 times more land than solar for the same energy output, making aviation's biofuel dreams a land use nightmare. But the conversation goes deeper: rewilding's evolution from absolutist vision to pragmatic spectrum, why regenerative farming must avoid yield penalties, and the troubling vibe shift in climate politics. Despite renewables now being cheaper than fossil fuels and China's coal use peaking, environmental issues have dropped down the political…

People in this episode

Host: Mark Lynas

Guest: Tom Heap

Topics covered

  • land use
  • renewable energy
  • solar energy
  • wind energy
  • livestock land use
  • biofuels
  • rewilding
  • regenerative farming
  • climate politics

Keywords

  • environmental issues
  • energy output
  • agricultural land
  • climate action

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Land Smart: How to Give People and Nature the Space to Thrive

Books & works: Land Smart: How to Give People and Nature, Countryfile, Rare Earth, Land Smart: How to Give People and Nature the Space to Thrive

Places: Earth, China, America, Pakistan, Ukraine

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