Green Mountain Power just broke ground on a 2 megawatt photovoltaic (PV) plant in Rutland, Vermont. While some other large PV systems planned for the area have met with strong opposition (some residents worry large, ground-mount solar arrays will be an eyesore on the state’s pastoral landscape), this project seems to be welcomed with open arms. Why? It’s being built on a 9.5-acre closed landfill.

The number of active municipal solid waste landfills that accept our household waste have been on a major decline, from nearly 8,000 in the late 1980s to less than 2,000 by the mid-2000s. All of the closed landfills around the country (not to mention closed cells on still-active landfills) leave us with a big question: What