If clean energy continues to be sited the way it always has been, the U.S. will need an area the size of Colorado and Wyoming combined to meet our climate targets. Developing new large-scale energy projects on natural lands has long been thought to be the most affordable option, but it also can create local conflict and negatively impact nature, slowing down the clean energy transition.
Fortunately, there’s a promising solution. Mining the Sun, a report by The Nature Conservancy, suggests that siting clean energy infrastructure on degraded lands like mining sites, landfills and brownfields can be a win-win solution for climate, conservation and communities.
The Mining the Sun report tells us the benefits of building clean energy projects on mine lands, brownfields and landfills. It offers two case studies of solar projects being built on mine lands that TNC has helped catalyze and includes overviews of relevant state and federal policies, economic analyses, community engagement best practices and maps showing brownfield and mine sites viable for energy development.
