Some people are actually jazzed by the fact that Cuyahoga County, Ohio is home to more than 100 solid-waste disposal sites, many of them old municipal dumps.
Why the excitement?
Because somebody might one day want to use the otherwise development-challenged sites for solar farms that would provide a clean and renewable source of energy for the region.
Mike Foley, director of sustainability for the county, requested an inventory of sites to get a better idea of the tainted land resources that could be used to produce green energy in the future.
The county already has such a project in the works. It plans to use a developer to erect a solar farm on an as-yet-to-be-chosen site. The project is part of a 10-year, power purchase agreement with Cleveland Public Power that calls for the county to buy locally generated wind and solar energy.
many closed landfills aren’t appropriate for normal redevelopment, such as for housing or industry, partly due to the methane gas that builds up beneath the surface. But most can provide a good base for photovoltaic panels that don’t pierce the landfill’s protective cap.
Photo credit: Adobe Stock