Sustainable remediation panel—Is it cost‐effective and feasible to implement renewable energy solutions at remediation sites?

Abstract

Remediation developed a Sustainable Remediation Panel in the Summer 2009 issue, which featured the Sustainable Remediation Forum White Paper. The panel is composed of leaders in the field of sustainable remediation who have volunteered to provide their opinions on difficult subjects related to the topic of how to integrate sustainability principles into the remediation practice. The panel's opinions are provided in a question-and-answer format, whereby selected experts provide an answer to a question. This issue's question is provided below, followed by opinions from three experts in the remediation field.Is it cost-effective and feasible to implement renewable energy solutions at remediation sites (wind, solar, or The answer to the first question is a qualified "yes." Renewable energy sources include wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and hydropower. By far, the most common applications of renewable energy focus on solar and wind applications. The power requirements for the majority of remediation systems are 10 to 50 kW, a common power range for pre-engineered solar and wind systems. There are several evaluation factors (listed here) that should be considered when evaluating the feasibility of renewable energy, and any one of them can represent an inhibiting factor in utilization of renewable energy solutions.A case study is used to show how the evaluation criteria can be used to assess the feasibility of implementing renewable energy solutions for a site project in Puerto Rico. The project involved evaluating a 170-kW application. The life-cycle cost analysis curves for the base case as well as the renewable energy with and without economic incentives are presented in Exhibit 1.r Type of power-solar; local estimates of solar intensity were used to size the system. r Availability of tax credits or other economic incentives-A 50 percent solar tax credit is available in Puerto Rico from 2009 through 2011. This can minimize the initial capital