The majority of ethanol based crop production comes from growing corn in the Midwest, specifically Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana.

My argument was never that we "should" replace all our ethanol corn crops with solar panels. Just that we could. And we could still theoretically make it work with enough money and gumption (and moving energy intensive industries inland to reduce the need for transmission).

I’m not arguing that they aren’t recyclable but rather they aren’t accessible at the volume needed.

Lithium supply is a concern. We don't have enough in the world to support the green transition and there's no clear solution. A few that come to mind are:

• New battery technologies that have been in the pipeline for a while.
• Overbuilding renewable electricity to account for a lack of batteries.
• Building a diverse range of renewable power sources.
• Peak pricing, and load shedding when there's not enough supply.
• Interstate power connections to share surplus and deficits.

I think this is a fair and nuanced point. In my opinion the solution is not one singular option, such as 100% solar, but a mix of options which might include some percentage of non-renewable energy. I think reduction of non-renewable should be the goal, but switching 100% to renewable does not seem feasible to me.

I think we should use a small amount of methane to supply power in the event of an emergency, instead of building enough batteries to supply us for an entire year of cloudy weather and stagnant air. In the first place the thought experiment was about 35 million acres of solar, not about a 100% renewable grid. That's a separate discussion to be had among engineers.