In some ways, this morning’s NY Times story reminds me of the clamor over ethanol a couple years back.  In the race to find the cure to our black gold addiction, some of the most highly publicized methods for producing “renewable energy” are still strongly at odds with nature.

With ethanol, it was the sticky wicket that to produce corn at such high volumes you needed petroleum-based fertilizers to artificially nourish the nutrient-starved ground.  So, you really weren’t finding a renewable resource so much as further subsidizing an already big, fat corn industry.

When it comes to solar power, in the public’s mind, “efficiency” is measured only by how limitations of your power source.  With solar power, it’s good it’ll the sun goes dark.  It’s the ultimate long-term, if not truly “renewable” power source.

Great, right? Eh…

Here is an inconvenient truth about renewable energy: It can sometimes demand a huge amount of water. Many of the proposed solutions to the nation’s energy problems, from certain types of solar farms to biofuel refineries to cleaner coal plants, could consume billions of gallons of water every year.

“When push comes to shove, water could become the real throttle on renewable energy,” said Michael E. Webber, an assistant professor at the University of Texas in Austin who studies the relationship between energy and water.

Conflicts over water could shape the future of many energy technologies. The most water-efficient renewable technologies are not necessarily the most economical, but water shortages could give them a competitive edge.

Solar demands for millions of gallons of water are currently only a real issue in drier areas of the country where a general lack of solar-hogs (a.k.a. “trees”) exist.  The high-water demand gets desert farmers and residents angry that solar is laying claim to the one scarce, key component of their livelihood.  And while it’s kind of paradoxical that talks of “renewable” energy are taking place in locations where water-transport for ANY use is insanely inefficient, the reality of the situation is that renewable energy is supposed to be the trump card to turn our weak economic hand into a 21st century winner and there are still many hurdles, other than just funding, to overcome.

If you picked your AJC up off the driveway or plunged neck-deep into the depths of AJC.com this morning, you’ll have already read about Georgia’s crushing defeat in the alliterative “Water Wars”.

For those just waking up, U.S. District judge Paul Magnuson ruled yesterday that the Army Corps. of Engineers has been illegally supplying water to the city of Atlanta for decades, and gave all parties involved three years to work out a solution in Congress.  If the three states (GA, AL, and FL) can’t come to a solution, the judge’s order reinforces the original plan for Lake Lanier created 50 years ago, which says only the city’s of Gainesville and Buford will be allowed to draw from the reservoir.

Georgia lawmakers echoed the statements of the state’s youngest senator, Saxby Chambliss, who called the ruling “draconian”, always annoyed when the limits of the natural environment get in the way of unending growth and profit.

But one Georgia blogger from the city of Decatur, in a moment of unprecedented clarity, scoffed off the judge’s ruling and proposed a much easier solution, which bypassed the time-wasting practice of “negotiation.”

“Listen, no one ever expected the name “Atlanta” to last forever.  I mean, who wants a name that was picked purely for the reason that it was less ridiculous than “Marthasville?”  If Atlanta wants to continue ignoring the needs of neighboring states in the name of self-preservation, there’s one simple solution: the cities of Buford and Gainesville must annex the entire metropolitan area.  That’ll show those other states who’s boss.  Gainesville/Buford would become the Minneapolis/St. Paul of the south, while those other states could dehydrate into oblivion.”

No legislators have yet commented on the suggestion, obviously stunned silent by the genius of the idea.