14 million acres of land in the US for solar energy wind farms and other green products
Today, the US EPA is pushing such a plan, with the National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL) making an effort to assess brownfields and Superfund sites for renewable energy. This program is known as Re-Powering America’s Land. Plus, he has a green jobs angle, through Recovery Act funding. Many of the potential sites are located in or near existing residential areas and may offer new jobs for local residents.
But wait, there’s so much more. In addition to providing new green jobs and clean energy for community use or the broader grid, the program also focuses on green remediation, which uses renewable energy to power products used for site cleanup. Once you add that up: harvesting clean energy from blighted, functional properties for not much else, while creating jobs and restoring the site, you have to wonder why anyone would want to keep blowing up America’s mountains, compromising our own water. and destroying the Gulf of Mexico in search of non-renewable fuels.
Land reclamation for renewable energy
Among the 14 million acres of categorized land within the US, conditions at sites can differ widely. Along with brownfields and Superfund sites, EPA and NREL are considering classified lands under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. This means that sites can range from individual abandoned factories with minimal hazardous resources involved, to a portion of a toxic stew that ruins an entire place, such as the Hazleton area within Pennsylvania that contains the Jeddo mine tunnel, infamous for expel countless gallons of contaminated water. empty mines every day for the last century.
Finding a place for solar panels and wind farms
In addition to evaluating sites for things that could improve (or prevent) energy harvesting from the sun’s rays and wind, EPA along with NREL are also looking at the type of facility a specific site can accommodate. The typical solar installation, for example, does not require excavation of a foundation, so it can be installed very easily over a covered landfill. For wind generators, a concrete foundation system and supporting cables can be built, instead of drilling into contaminated soil.
A new energy potential
It can be said, therefore, I will say it, that formerly non-renewable fuels saved the US from becoming a treeless wasteland. Seriously, it’s hard to think how we could have gotten to this point without burning every single stick of wood across the country. But times change, and our own fossil fuel friends have outlived their stay. They had been of little use during the birth of this country, and as we move directly into a new energy future, they will return to that state. It’s just a question of when, not really if.