The University of Arizona's Biosphere 2 has teamed up with an Arizona firm called Solarmax to test a new way to mount solar panels so they can be deployed over mine tailings and landfills. Ordinarily landfills and abandoned mines are left as wasted earth space, often more of a hazard than any potential benefit. The University of Arizona has joined an Arizona company to study the benefits of placing solar panels in areas that the country that otherwise would marked as toxic or useless.
The solar panels in the project were earlier donated by SOLON.