<story><title>Bill and Melinda Gates: America’s Top Farmland Owner</title><url>https://landreport.com/2021/01/bill-gates-americas-top-farmland-owner/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>runako</author><text>I enjoy seeing land use comparisons. I think there was one a while ago that showed how much land the US would require to house everyone at Tokyo-level density (not much). Another showed how much land we would need to dedicate to solar panels to power the country (also not much).&lt;p&gt;Also worth noting here that the 240k acres they own wouldn&amp;#x27;t get them into the top 10 private landowners in the US.&lt;p&gt;Edit: One of the solar maps: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.freeingenergy.com&amp;#x2F;how-much-solar-would-it-take-to-power-the-u-s&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.freeingenergy.com&amp;#x2F;how-much-solar-would-it-take-t...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not the residential density map, but fun: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.6sqft.com&amp;#x2F;believe-it-or-not-the-worlds-entire-population-can-fit-inside-new-york-city&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.6sqft.com&amp;#x2F;believe-it-or-not-the-worlds-entire-po...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;The residential density maps: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;gothamist.com&amp;#x2F;arts-entertainment&amp;#x2F;map-if-the-world-lived-like-new-yorkers-wed-all-fit-in-texas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;gothamist.com&amp;#x2F;arts-entertainment&amp;#x2F;map-if-the-world-li...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>war1025</author><text>I did some quick math, and the 240k acres it says they own comes out to about 378 square miles, which if condensed down to a square would be 20 miles by 20 miles.&lt;p&gt;On the one hand, that&amp;#x27;s a lot of land. On the other, it&amp;#x27;s not really anything.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ucm_edge</author><text>I also saw numbers saying a 50 mile by 50 mile piece of land could handle all of America&amp;#x27;s trash for 100 years if used as a landfill.&lt;p&gt;Always struck me as interesting in that you could easily section off a chunk of desert, properly sort and encapsulate the trash.  At the same time fund research into ways to do recycling that is more cost efficient and more environmental friendly with regard to chemicals used, etc.   Then once you have better tech for a certain class of garbage, go process it in bulk.&lt;p&gt;Of course humans being humans, we&amp;#x27;d probably not bother to fund the research, not do upkeep on the encapsulation material and mess up the ground water, etc.   Still interesting to think about just having one or two national trash dumps.</text></comment>
<story><title>Bill and Melinda Gates: America’s Top Farmland Owner</title><url>https://landreport.com/2021/01/bill-gates-americas-top-farmland-owner/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>runako</author><text>I enjoy seeing land use comparisons. I think there was one a while ago that showed how much land the US would require to house everyone at Tokyo-level density (not much). Another showed how much land we would need to dedicate to solar panels to power the country (also not much).&lt;p&gt;Also worth noting here that the 240k acres they own wouldn&amp;#x27;t get them into the top 10 private landowners in the US.&lt;p&gt;Edit: One of the solar maps: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.freeingenergy.com&amp;#x2F;how-much-solar-would-it-take-to-power-the-u-s&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.freeingenergy.com&amp;#x2F;how-much-solar-would-it-take-t...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not the residential density map, but fun: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.6sqft.com&amp;#x2F;believe-it-or-not-the-worlds-entire-population-can-fit-inside-new-york-city&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.6sqft.com&amp;#x2F;believe-it-or-not-the-worlds-entire-po...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;The residential density maps: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;gothamist.com&amp;#x2F;arts-entertainment&amp;#x2F;map-if-the-world-lived-like-new-yorkers-wed-all-fit-in-texas&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;gothamist.com&amp;#x2F;arts-entertainment&amp;#x2F;map-if-the-world-li...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>war1025</author><text>I did some quick math, and the 240k acres it says they own comes out to about 378 square miles, which if condensed down to a square would be 20 miles by 20 miles.&lt;p&gt;On the one hand, that&amp;#x27;s a lot of land. On the other, it&amp;#x27;s not really anything.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>csomar</author><text>Regarding solar, you don&amp;#x27;t really need much land. Most residential homes can install it on their roof and this also applies to flat industrial building which do not consume a lot of energy. This also makes your solar production decentralized.</text></comment>