Changes taking place in energy policy are traced, along with their implications for land use. The rise of renewable energy and the management of energy demand are identified as two areas in which new dimensions and tensions are being added to the relationship between energy and land use. This context is used to introduce the papers in this special feature which focus on how the maturing and diversifying renewable energy technologies are interacting, in various parts of the world, with land use concerns, the nature of the challenges that renewables present for the management of land use and the responses which are being made. The interrelated themes of land requirements, environmental impacts and public opposition, and planning policy are identified.