Renewable Energy’s Land Use Reckoning

4 snips

Jun 3, 2025

Guest

Jonathan Thompson

Guest

Grace Wu

Grace Wu, an assistant professor at UC Santa Barbara and lead of the Spatial Climate Solutions Lab, joins Jonathan Thompson, a senior ecologist at Harvard Forest. They dive into the pressing interaction between renewable energy expansion and land use conservation. Their discussion highlights the environmental costs tied to solar developments in Massachusetts, the innovative agrivoltaics approach, and the need for strategic policies. With insights on balancing clean energy growth and ecosystem preservation, they explore how effective planning can minimize adverse impacts.

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INSIGHT

Massive Land Needed for Renewables

Expanding renewable energy requires up to 300,000 square miles of land by 2050, roughly equivalent to California's area for wind alone.
Careful siting is essential to protect habitats, wildlife corridors, and prime farmland from significant conversion.

ADVICE

Land-Sparing Renewable Strategies

Employ agrivoltaics to integrate solar panels with active crop production, preserving farmland while generating energy.
Utilize co-location of wind and solar to share infrastructure and balance generation times efficiently.

INSIGHT

Land Use Conflicts in Massachusetts

Solar growth in Massachusetts has caused significant forest and farmland losses, sparking community opposition.
This conflict highlights a wider split between conservation and climate goals that can be reconciled with better planning.

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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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