Martin Pasqualetti, Professor, Geography in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is the lead author on Recycling Energy Landscapes: Addressing the sustainable legacy of the world's largest enterprise, a new publication in Energy Research & Social Science.
This article examines how energy landscapes can be transformed through the diffusion and adoption of innovations in recycling, enabling more sustainable forms of reuse. It argues that recycling energy landscapes is essential to meeting present needs while advancing principles such as prudence, intergenerational equity, precaution, responsibility, and good governance.
Focusing on examples from the United States and Germany, the study explores two key dimensions: (1) the emergence of a unifying framework for this developing field, and (2) the shifting temporal context of energy systems, including project life cycles, longitudinal change, and intergenerational impacts.
The findings suggest that the benefits and urgency of recycling energy landscapes are beginning to outweigh the historical norm of site abandonment. As the transition away from conventional energy sources accelerates, the ability to reuse and repurpose renewable energy landscapes will play a growing role in maximizing long-term value and sustainability.