RE: Creating "brightfields" on Brownfields

["Alex Lantsberg" <alex@SAEJ.org>]

while i like the idea of the feds recognizing the potential of solar energy,
i'm a bit concerned that this is nothing but conversion of a parking lot to
a solar lot.

my support and advocacy of brownfields strategies has been predicated on the
belief that we would get (1) some cleanup of the site & (2) productive
community reuse that will have tangible economic benefits for the community.
while the creation of a solar panel plant is good, the second paragraph
makes me think that this initiative won't do either of the above.  if the
feds want to pursue solar energy, then they should provide folks with solar
panels for their roofs--that's a way to directly offset individual energy
use.

how bout this for an idea--solar panels for communities and more
redevelopment of the lots (where applicable) into manufacturing plants that
produce these panels.

alex

> Subject: Creating "brightfields" on Brownfields
>
>
> (Excerpts)
> For the complete article go to:
> http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/990804/9s.html
>
>
> Wednesday August 4, 5:09 pm Eastern Time
> US plans to convert factory sites to solar power
>
> CHICAGO, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The federal government on Wednesday unveiled an
> effort to install solar panels at polluted, unused factory sites to create
> energy-producing islands in cities where the power is needed most.
>
> The U.S. Energy Department and the city of Chicago said the first step in
> the project would be a factory employing 100 people ... will be built on
> the site of a facility that reprocessed demolition debris and was
> closed by
> the city for violating environmental laws.
>
> The Energy Department said it envisioned solar power collection points in
> other locations around the country, where they could be placed directly on
> abandoned dumps and other factory sites without disturbing the often
> contaminated ground beneath.
>
> It said it had begun to work with cities in California, Virginia,
> Minnesota, New York and Connecticut to find other sites for creating
> ``brightfields'' on abandoned industrial sites, called ``brownfields.''
>
> Solar panels covering Chicago's 17-acre (6.9-hectare) site could power a
> neighborhood of 50 homes during peak solar activity in the
> summer, he said.
> At night or during the Northern Hemisphere's winter -- when solar energy
> output is about 40 percent less -- power would come from the utility.
>
>
>
>