Renewable energy developments on brownfields: some evidence on diverging policies, practices and public attitudes from the USA, Germany and Czech Republic
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| Year of publication | 2013 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The paper deals with the phenomenon of "brightfields" which are regarded brownfield sites converted into newly usable lands by implementation of renewable energy technologies (i.e. solar parks, wind farms, energy crops fields, biogas plants, etc.). The brightfield approach meets at once several challenges we need to globally cope with: climate change, energy demand and energy sustainability, urban sprawl, environmental restoration, etc. Brownfield sites can provide many competitive advantages as compared with greenfields (which are so far mostly used for renewable energy projects): they preserve green spaces; have an access to infrastructure; are available for lower land costs; enable abandoned and potentially contaminated estates to return to productive use; create new job opportunities; gain social acceptance from local communities; enable local communities to invest into green businesses; assist in environmental restoration and improve the image of stigmatized areas; etc. However, the political and public support for reconversions of brownfields into renewable energy projects significantly differs across countries. The paper compares the current situation in three countries which dispose of large quantity of brownfield sites (USA, Germany, Czech Republic) but they differ in legislative frameworks, political-institutional practices and public attitudes related to the renewable energy developments on brownfields. The concerned research was realized in the scope of the project „TIMBRE: Tailored Improvement of Brownfield Regeneration in Europe (FP7-ENV-2010.3.1.5-2, Contract nr. 265364) |