[Judy Pino] As rising energy costs continue to grab headlines,
Americans are paying more attention to alternatives
to fossil fuels.
Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and biomass power
hold great promise, but communities struggle
with where to build these facilities.
Hello and welcome to Green Scene,
EPA's environmental podcast series that you can take
with you.
I'm Judy Pino.
EPA has recently developed a series of state maps that
show thousands of contaminated properties across the country
that have potential to host renewable energy facilities.
And here to tell us more about this very interesting project
is Penny McDaniel from EPA's Office of Solid Waste
and Emergency Response.
Penny, welcome.
[Penny McDaniel] Thank you.
[Judy Pino] Well, let's start with the basics, shall we?
Let's explain to the audience just what is renewable energy.
[Penny McDaniel] Well, renewable energy comes from sources
that are readily replenished.
They are continually replenished,
and we are familiar with some of those,
such as wind and solar and some forms of biomass.
[Judy Pino] That's right.
You mentioned solar, wind, and biomass.
Let's talk about how these work.
[Penny McDaniel] Okay, well, the general concept is that we can take --
using various technologies, we can take the energy
that's stored in sun and in the wind and in various sources
of biomass and we can convert those into usable sources
of energy, like electricity and fuels.
[Judy Pino] And that works the same for wind and biomass?
[Penny McDaniel] Well, there are different technologies to harness
that energy.
So, for solar, for example, you can use photovoltaic
panels to take the sun and convert that into electricity.
For wind you can use wind turbines to capture the
wind, if you will, the motion of the wind,
and turn that into electricity as well.
And biomass comes from sources of biological material,
organic material that can be harnessed in a variety
of ways to produce electricity and fuels, alternative fuels.
[Judy Pino] Now, why is renewable energy important right now?
We hear about it all the time, right?
[Penny McDaniel] Well, renewable energy is important right now
because as traditional sources of energy are rising in costs,
as we've seen a lot in the news these days,
it makes other non-traditional sources of energy such as
renewable energy, solar, wind, biomass, more cost effective.
In addition, we hear a lot in the news about energy
independence and energy security,
and -- yeah, and these -- you know, development of
renewable energy.
And adding that to our portfolio of energy
in this country really lends itself to getting us to that
point of energy independence and security.
[Judy Pino] And of course, the concern of greenhouse gas emissions.
[Penny McDaniel] Of course.
So, using renewable energy is a much cleaner way
of providing energy to homes and to our businesses.
They have fewer greenhouse gases,
and in a time of concern about the effects of climate change,
it's ever more important to explore those options.
[Judy Pino] And we all know that renewable energy technologies
are becoming more and more efficient.
[Penny McDaniel] They are.
The technologies are improving all the time and they
are becoming more efficient and therefore more cost effective.
[Judy Pino] Now, your office has been looking at contaminated
lands as sites for renewable energy.
What is the connection between contaminated lands
and renewable energy?
[Penny McDaniel] Well, to site a renewable energy production facility,
say, for example, a solar field or a wind farm,
you need land.
And many of these EPA-tracked sites or contaminated lands
offer a lot of the amenities, if you will,
that are necessary for citing these types of energy
production -- renewable energy production facilities.
[Judy Pino] Now, Penny, let's define "contaminated lands."
If they're contaminated, are they safe?
[Penny McDaniel] So, contaminated lands are lands that have been used
in the past by industry and mining operations that have
led to releases of hazardous substances into the environment
that pose a risk to human health or the environment and require
that EPA get involved and clean them up.
So, what we have done is in many of these --
in many of these sites we have cleaned them up and gotten
them to a point for reuse so that they are ready for
reuse and redevelopment with facilities such as renewable
energy production facilities.
[Judy Pino] And what makes these lands better than any other type
of land to be used for renewable energy?
[Penny McDaniel] Well, they're a great opportunity for
developing renewableenergies.
As I mentioned a little bit earlier, they provide a lot
of the infrastructure that is needed for siting renewable
energy facilities, such as transmission lines and roads
for access and railways for access.
And many of these lands have been zoned properly
for siting these types of facilities,
so they're zoned for industrial and commercial use so that you
don't need to go through that process of rezoning.
[Judy Pino] Not to mention a source of employment.
[Penny McDaniel] There are -- some of these sites have in the past
provided jobs to the local communities,
such as large industrial facilities and mining sites,
but when those closed up and left,
many of the jobswent with them.
So we see this as an opportunity to provide,
if you will, green collar jobs for the operation
and maintenance of the renewable energy facilities as well as,
you know, even manufacturing components for the
wind turbines and the solar panels.
[Judy Pino] Okay, so let's talk about EPA's new resource for information
specifically on this subject.
[Penny McDaniel] Okay, well, what we've done is we worked with
the National Renewable Energy Lab, and we have combined
their data on renewable energy sources with our data
on available lands for redevelopment,
and we together have come up with criteria to screen out
these sites, so we ended up with a nice, robust list of
EPA-tracked sites or contaminated lands
that qualify, if you will, for renewable energy development.
[Judy Pino] In all 50 states, and you guys have
a lot of cool stuff on this site: virtual map,
also fact sheets and everything else,
information incentives, and Google Earth so you
can see the actual land space available.
[Penny McDaniel] That's right.
We've developed maps, as you've mentioned,
for all states, so you can see, and anybody who's interested
can see the renewable energy potential on EPA-tracked
sites in their state for wind, solar, and biomass.
We've also developed incentive sheets that outline the
financial incentives for developing renewable energy
as well as incentives for developing contaminated lands.
[Judy Pino] Now, of course you can find that at
epa.gov/renewableenergyland.
Who can usethese tools?
[Penny McDaniel] Well, anybody who's interested in developing renewable energy,
such as developers, renewable energy developers, communities,
municipalities, states.
States are -- many states have renewable portfolio standards
and they are looking for ways of meeting those
renewable portfolio standards that require a certain
percentage of renewable energy production in their state.
[Judy Pino] And what a great way to revitalize impaired lands
while putting them back to productive use.
Well, thanks, Penny McDaniel with EPA's Office of Solid
Waste and Emergency Response, for being with us.
And to learn more about renewable energy development
potential on contaminated lands, please visit
www.epa.gov/renewableenergyland. 00:07:55.017,00:00:00.000 See you next time on Green Scene.