Education Highlights

Brightfields Accelerator 2023

With over 450,000 brownfield sites across America and new incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act, communities can embrace this opportunity to deploy clean energy on brownfields and turn them into brightfields. Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) is partnering with Kansas State University’s Technical Assistance to Brownfields program to launch the first-ever accelerator for brightfields projects. This program will include technical assistance, tools, and other resources to help local governments, site-owners, and community partners make smart and sustainable choices about the reuse and revitalization of brownfield sites and prepare for funding, financing, and procurement for clean energy.

This Fall, we kicked things off with two introductory virtual workshops on brightfields to help communities of all shapes and sizes make smart and sustainable choices about the reuse and revitalization of brownfield sites. These workshops focused on the basics of brightfields and previewed deeper technical assistance opportunities coming in 2023.

Brightfields 101 Workshop: Site Fundamentals & Market Overview (previously held October 20, 2022)

The goal of the first virtual workshop was to:

  1. Establish a baseline knowledge about what brightfields are and the potential opportunities brightfields may offer
  2. Educate participants about the co-benefits and challenges for brightfields
  3. Advance the understanding of how brightfields move from concept to creation. providing education about the benefits and challenges for brightfields, and Recap

All of the resources for this workshop can be accessed using the links below.

Brightfields 102 Workshop: Understanding the Landscape of Brightfields Funding and Financing (previously held November 16, 2022)

The goal of the second workshop was to help participants understand:

  1. The brightfield development process, including fundamentals of how to plan, pitch, and procure projects
  2. The EPA Brownfield Grant Program and other relevant funding for brightfields
  3. New funding and financing opportunities presented by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)
  4. Practical Strategies to secure stakeholder buy-in and attract necessary funding/financing

All of the resources for this workshop can be accessed using the links below.

Attendance of these workshops were not required to participant in the Brightfields Accelerator Program. If you are interested in site-specific technical assistance complete the short Needs Assessment Form. 

For questions about how your community can participate in our Brightfields Accelerator, contact Matthew Popkin at mpopkin@rmi.org or Maggie Belanger at maggiejessie@ksu.edu.