Renewable Energy’s Land Use Reckoning

As renewable power grows, land use decisions will influence its environmental impact.

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Decarbonizing the electric grid will require a dramatic expansion of renewable energy by mid-century, and significantly more land dedicated to clean power. But where and how that buildout occurs will shape whether the environmental benefits of renewables are fully realized or come at a high cost to ecosystems, farmland, and communities.

Grace Wu of the Spatial Climate Solutions Lab at UC Santa Barbara and Jonathan Thompson, research director at Harvard Forest, examine the tension between rapid renewable energy expansion and conscientious land use. Wu, who has co-authored recent reports on the environmental impacts of clean energy siting policies, explores strategies for minimizing impacts while ensuring energy remains reliable and affordable. Thompson, whose research quantifies the effects of land use on forest ecosystems, discusses the push-and-pull dynamic unfolding in Massachusetts, where solar development has resulted in real losses of forests and farmland, and where new siting models are emerging.

The two also explore how incentives and regulations influence land use decisions, and how policy can reduce land impacts while supporting clean power development.

Grace Wu is an assistant professor in the Environmental Studies program at the University of California Santa Barbara and leads the university’s Spatial Climate Solutions Lab.

Jonathan Thompson is senior ecologist and research director at Harvard Forest.

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Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu. 

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