EPA, DOE to Develop Renewable Energy on Potentially Contaminated Sites

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are evaluating the feasibility of developing renewable energy production on Superfund, brownfields, and former landfill or mining sites. As part of the RE-Powering America’s Land Initiative, EPA is investing approximately $1 million for projects across the US aiming to revitalize abandoned sites. 

"The RE-Powering America's Land Initiative is not just about using these sites for energy production but using these sites to re-energize communities," said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. "These studies are the first step to transforming these sites from eyesores today to community assets tomorrow." 

Projects will analyze the potential development of wind, solar, biomass, or geothermal at 26 sites. The analysis will determine the best renewable energy technology for the site, the optimal location for placement of the renewable energy technology on the site, potential energy generating capacity, the return on the investment, and the economic feasibility of the renewable energy projects. The 26 sites are located in Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Georgia, Mississippi, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, New Mexico, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, California, Arizona, Oregon, and Washington.

Renewable energy projects of this nature have been successful in the past. There have been over 20 renewable energy projects built on contaminated sites and more are currently underway. For example, in 2010, a six megawatt solar array was constructed on the Aerojet General Corporation Superfund site in Sacramento County, Calif. This solar farm is being used to power the cleanup. Also in 2010, the 10 megawatt Exelon City Solar installation, which is the largest urban solar power plant in the United States, was built on a brownfield site in Chicago.

Some of the sites under consideration for renewable energy projects have completed cleanup activities, while others may be in various stages of assessment or cleanup. Renewable energy projects on the sites will be designed to accommodate the site conditions.

More information on the RE-Powering America’s Land initiative:
http://www.epa.gov/renewableenergyland/ 

More information on NREL: http://www.nrel.gov/

Microbe Eating Dispersed Oil in Gulf

In an article published in Science, Terry C. Hazen, the chief microbiologist at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, reports that oil-eating bacteria have largely consumed the deep-sea plume of dispersed oil fouling the Gulf of Mexico.  Many feared the dispersed plume would devastate the marine ecology in the gulf because many oil-eating bacteria consume oxygen as well as hydrocarbons - a process that could produce "dead zones". But Hazen and his lab colleagues report that the microbes devour the microscopic droplets with far less depletion of oxygen than other oil-eating bacteria.

Read the complete article from David Perlman, the San Francisco Chronicle Science Editor, here. The abstract follows below. 

Deep-Sea Oil Plume Enriches Indigenous Oil-Degrading Bacteria
Science, Hazen et al., August 24, 2010 

The biological effects and expected fate of the vast amount of oil in the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon blowout are unknown due to the depth and magnitude of this event. Here, we report that the dispersed hydrocarbon plume stimulated deep-sea indigenous -proteobacteria that are closely related to known petroleum-degraders. Hydrocarbon-degrading genes coincided with the concentration of various oil contaminants. Changes in hydrocarbon composition with distance from the source and incubation experiments with environmental isolates demonstrate faster-than-expected hydrocarbon biodegradation rates at 5°C. Based on these results, the potential exists for intrinsic bioremediation of the oil plume in the deep-water column without substantial oxygen drawdown.

Access the abstract and article via ScienceXpress.