The US DoE has a new idea of what to do with derelict, urban industrial properties that no-one wants. Cover them up with solar panels.
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson unveiled the first step in a project to use solar panels at polluted sites to generate electricity without disturbing buried contaminants.
The DoE, the city of Chicago, and local electric utility Commonwealth Edison, hope to get a solar panel manufacturer to make use of a 17-acre former dump site. The city and the utility have promised to buy $8 million of solar panels, some of which will cover derelict sites and feed power into the local grid.
