Former coal mines, brownfields are perfect spaces for wind, solar energy

Renewable energy development on brownfields or former mines is a promising avenue to produce clean energy, an activist writes. A Blue Line rider says the CTA should forget about AI until it can get trains and buses to run on time.

One of the biggest problems stunting renewable energy growth is space. The U.S. needs land the size of Texas to deploy enough wind and solar to meet energy demands. These swaths of land are often on farms, in forests and grasslands — areas critical to people and nature.

An untapped solution involves underutilized or abandoned sites — former coal mines and brownfields. I grew up near some of these blighted areas in Chicago and often wondered how they could be revitalized to bring economic prosperity and reparations to impacted communities.

The Nature Conservancy’s report, “Mining the Sun,” reveals that Illinois has more than 200,000 acres of former mines and several thousand brownfields that can be repurposed for wind and solar energy. Building in these areas would ease the pressure off farmlands and forests, and benefit communities overburdened by industry pollution through new tax revenue and funding for cleanup.