As we move towards a new way of living alongside our environment, it’s increasingly important that we start to rethink the ways we utilize preexisting resources and spaces, changing the current paradigm of “use up and move on” to something that resembles innovative reuse. Two such large-scale projects point to this kind of thinking, re-imaging barren landscapes and empty buildings as something with the potential to be better than what came before.
Outside of Caspar, Wyoming, the site of a former Rocky Mountain Power coal mine that was no longer economically viable has been converted into a 158-turbine wind farm that produces 237 megawatts of power, enough electricity for 66,800 households for a year.
As CNET reports “Full-scale final reclamation efforts to restore the nearly 9-mile long stretch of land affected by mining began in 1999 and were completed in 2005. Mountains of dirt were moved, miles of land reseeded with native vegetation and major contouring performed in order to return the landscape to its pre-mining appearance. More than 85 million yards of earth were moved to accomplish this feat.”
And while a project like this is no small undertaking, both in terms of time and money (one wind turbine alone costs roughly $2 million), given that the company already owned the land and had much of the necessary infrastructure in place, the long-term prospects made sense. Factor in the improved design - specialists arranged the farm in an array that maximizes output – and technology – turbines are now electronically controlled to “track” the wind – and traditional power companies are being to see the value in clean energy.
Meanwhile in Holmdel, New Jersey, Somerset Development is attempting to gain approvals so that they can move forward with plans to convert an abandoned office park into a community of lofts and stores. The building and campus seem to be prime candidates for such an endeavor, given their unusual pedigree – designed by renowned Finnish architect Eero Saarinen and served as former home to Bell Labs, known for its pioneering work on transistors and cell phones.
Fast Company explains the important precedent such a project could set, “If the conversion goes through it could serve as a model for the conversation of aging and abandoned surburban offices across the country. And as preservationist and architectural historian Nina Rappaport notes,”[the] key to the project is how to retrofit the building into an era that requires sustainable new systems,” representing an unique opportunity for Somerset to be seen as a leader in this specialized (but growing) industry.