If some other type of energy generation system used as much land as solar there is no way environmentalists would have ever supported it (rightfully so, I would

If some other type of energy generation system used as much land as solar there is no way environmentalists would have ever supported it (rightfully so, I would say). I think solar was just not practical until very recently to actually be used at grid scale. So in the past saying one should stop burning coal and use solar was just a way of saying stop using power altogether and do some kind of back-to-the-land thing.