by: David R. Baker  |  Visit article original

Picking the right place for an immense solar power plant or wind farm is a tricky business, one that can turn natural allies into enemies. An open stretch of desert might look empty to a renewable-power developer who wants to blanket a few hundred acres with solar panels or mirrors.

To environmentalists, the same spot could be vital habitat for an endangered lizard or bird - an ecosystem too delicate to touch.

Now, a collaboration between Google and two leading environmental groups intends to head off those fights. A new mapping tool on Google Earth shows renewable-power developers where they can - and can’t - build. Working on grants from Google’s philanthropic arm, the National Audubon Society and the Natural Resources Defense Council pulled together maps of endangered species habitats, national parks and other forms of protected land and loaded all that data into Google Earth.

Zoom in on the Mojave Desert, a favorite spot for solar power projects, and you can see every bit of land that is off-limits to developers. The no-go zones appear as brightly colored shapes superimposed on maps and aerial photographs.

The new tool, called the Path to Green Energy, went live Wednesday, and anyone can use it. Solar and wind companies badly want to avoid fights that could slow down their projects, said Johanna Wald, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “They kept asking me, ‘Please tell me where I shouldn’t go,’” she said.

“They understand it doesn’t make good business sense to go someplace that’s going to generate a lot of controversy.”

Aid to Planners

Wald and her colleagues don’t want the mapping tool to turn into a roadblock for renewable power. Instead, they say it illustrates that conservation and clean energy can coexist. It also will help electric utilities and government regulators plan new power lines.

“The maps make it clear that there is plenty of room for green energy,” said Brian Rutledge, executive director of Audubon Wyoming. Although designed for renewable-power companies and environmentalists, the Path to Green Energy also could prove useful to housing developers and anyone interested in land-use issues.

It remains a work in progress. So far, it covers 13 Western states - about 860 million acres of land - and includes habitat data for more than 170 species. Its creators want to add more states and species as well as information showing places that have the most sunshine and the strongest winds.

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