It is estimated that the equivalent of over 2,700 MW of total electricity capacity and 900 million standard cubic feet of gas per day is buried in landfills across the country. While this certainly isn’t enough to meet all of our power needs, it is a wasted opportunity to do something more with our never-ending stream of waste than simply bury it in a hole.
One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure
Starting next spring, the University of New Hampshire (UNH) will be getting 85% of its needed heat and electricity from trash. More specifically, the methane gas that organic matter produces in landfills as it decomposes. The landfill gas-to-energy project was born out of UNH’s need to upgrade its aging boilers. Instead of simply getting newer boilers, the university decided to go one step further by laying plans and spending the money for a co-generation plant located, ironically enough, in an old brick building located right on campus that once housed coal and oil-fired central boilers.
UNH is the first campus in the country to use landfill gas as its primary fuel source. Dubbed the ECOLine, the project will pipe enriched and purified gas from Waste Management’s landfill in Rochester to the Durham campus. Coming from Waste Management’s Turnkey Recycling and Environmental Enterprise (TREE) facility in Rochester, NH, the landfill gas will replace commercial natural gas as the primary fuel in UNH’s cogeneration plant. Construction began in 2007 on the landfill gas processing plant in Rochester that will purify the gas and on the 12.7 mile underground pipeline that will transport the gas from the plant to the UNH Durham campus.
Some benefits of the program from the ECOLine website:
Cost savings: UNH’s landfill gas project cost an estimated $49 million – all internally-funded – with an anticipated payback within 10 years of the project. Both the cogeneration plant and the landfill gas projects were financed by the campus through borrowing. No student fees or state funding is being used. The analysis done as part of the due diligence process showed that the total cost of energy delivered to the campus was lower if the project was accomplished (assuming all costs for the new systems including repayment of the financing) than the “do nothing” alternative.
Emissions savings: When combined with the COGEN plant, ECOLine will stabilize energy costs, provide energy security, and demonstrate environmental responsibility. ECOLine and selling RECs are part ofUNH’s aggressive climate action plan called “WildCAP,” which will outline how the university will lower its emissions to basically zero and secure its leadership position in climate protection as part of its broader sustainability commitment. Under WildCAP, UNH will cut its greenhouse gas emissions: 50% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 on the road to carbon neutrality by 2100. To ensure we meet these targets, UNH commits to an average reduction of 3% per year.
Take a look at the video below to see how it all works.
The Good: Utilizing an otherwise wasted energy source that will end up saving UNH money in the long run and be a valuable educational tool. Will help reduce the univeristy’s emissions
The Bad: The payback is long and while methane burning has significantly less greenhouse gas emissions than coal burning, it still will produce some emissions.
The Bottom-Line: A smarter use of UNH’s upgrade funds that in the end will save the university money and lessen it’s environmental footprint.
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