This past spring, the U. S. EPA launched its first initiative aimed at encouraging, facilitating and supporting the redevelopment of brownfield sites with renewable energy facilities. The initiative, Siting Renewable Energy on Contaminated Lands and Mining Sites, was launched by the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER), the EPA office with purview over land and materials management activities (see text sidebars in article). Several factors make the technical and economic case more compelling for renewable energy development in general, and their development on brownfield sites, in particular.

For starters, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2008 report projects that, by 2030, U.S. electricity production will need to increase by nearly 30 percent to meet growing demand.1 It’s estimated that this increase in demand is equivalent to the electricity production from more than 320 mid-sized, coal-fired power plants.2 ...

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