Super sites for biomass
November 14, 2008
BY Rona Johnson
EPA has a fascinating web tool available, showing contaminated land sites around the nation that would be suitable for renewable energy. The purpose of the project was to promote new uses for contaminated lands and mining sites that may be unsuitable for other purposes. With the help of NREL, the EPA developed a database of abandoned mine lands, brownfields, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act sites and superfund sites. Each site was evaluated to determine its attributes for biofuels, biopower, sun or wind production. Over 9,500 sites were scrutinized for the maps and nearly 9,000 of those received the ranking of "outstanding."
The interactive maps, available at http://www.epa.gov/renewableenergyland/, should be useful to private industries interested in the renewable energy sector, as well as land developers, environmental managers and local, state and federal entities.
Biomass crops have great promise as a way to utilize contaminated land in a productive manner, cleaning up the land in the process. Giant reed, for example, is known to scavenge large amounts of phosphorus and can convert dioxins to harmless compounds. (See my story on the invasive challenge for crops like giant reed.)
The interactive maps, available at http://www.epa.gov/renewableenergyland/, should be useful to private industries interested in the renewable energy sector, as well as land developers, environmental managers and local, state and federal entities.
Biomass crops have great promise as a way to utilize contaminated land in a productive manner, cleaning up the land in the process. Giant reed, for example, is known to scavenge large amounts of phosphorus and can convert dioxins to harmless compounds. (See my story on the invasive challenge for crops like giant reed.)
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