The Environmental Protection Agency has created an interactive set of maps laying out U.S. sites with high potential for renewable energy development. The EPA used information available in its databases, and made it easier to look at with the Google Earth platform.

The sites the EPA deems potentially useful for development are divided into solar, biomass and wind power. In addition to listing energy types, the EPA has also noted mine lands, brownfields, RCRA sites and Superfund sites. While these areas are potentially contaminated, they may be viable areas for energy development.

Finding viable, affordable sites for solar, wind and other renewable-energy installations can be difficult. If an area has potential for homes, agriculture or industrial development, it may be out of reach for energy development. However, there is generally little demand for contaminated sites, where such problems are less of an issue for a power installation than say, a housing complex.

The EPA has a monumental amount of data that is valuable to renewable energy developers, but until recently, it hasn't been in a useful form. This set of Google Earth maps has made it usable and has effectvely created a shortcut for developers. Rather than spend months searching for a good location for a project, developers can use the geographic information the EPA has provided on good starting points.

Contaminated sites are likely to be among the least expensive options for developers, and have the necessary geographic features for power generation. At the very least, the EPA has saved developers time and money.

The choice of Google Earth is ideal: not only can you consider various categories of information provided by the EPA, you can also incorporate other data available in the Google Earth format. Such maps include global warming and environmental information.

The decision to make this information available is good; there is, however, even more information at the disposal of the EPA and other governmental agencies. We can only hope that members of those agencies will consider putting more information into formats like Google Earth. While such data is theoretically available to the public, the sheer quantity and complex formats used by many departments are difficult to use in practical matters.

Image — Google Earth