Contaminated land, green energy and the energy crisis: Should contaminated land sites be targeted and used to produce renewable energy in the United Kingdom?

Abstract

This opinion asks the question of whether contaminated land sites ‘can’ and ‘should’ be used to provide renewable energy in the United Kingdom (UK)? This question in turn raises many other questions and scenarios which have yet to be considered, explored and resolved, by relevant stakeholders regarding the use of such sites. Detailed assessments need to be undertaken to understand what the impact of using these sites would have on the environment, local communities, and whether the renewable energy obtained would make a significant difference in reducing the UK's reliance on fossil fuels. It may be that due to the long timescales involved, as a result of the need to monitor and evaluate such sites over time (in contrast to the speed of change that is actually required in practice to deal with the current energy crisis), that this proposal does not provide a ‘quick fix’ but is nonetheless something that the UK government should consider more fully now, as it could help with mitigating the ‘energy and environmental crisis’ over the longer term. In other parts of the world such as the United States of America (USA), contaminated land is actively being reused to provide renewable energy.