Sustainability Project By: Jacob Martin

1. Sustainability ProjectBy: Jacob Martin More and more United States landfills are turning the methane gas that they produce into an energy sustaining resource. In the past most landfills sat open and seeped methane into our atmosphere, that was until ‘sanitary’ landfill practices began and landfills were covered with dirt and buried. In the early 1980s those gases began being utilized and now provide power and energy to homes and business in the surrounding areas. To date there are around 6,000 active (Valenti, 1992) landfills across the country with around 558 using methane to power their nearby cities, with another 510 being considered as viable candidates by the EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program (Landfill Methane Outreach, 2012).

2. The Landfill Methane Outreach Program With the Clean air act the EPA developed The Landfill Methane Outreach Program in order for the United States to combat greenhouse gases. With its volatility Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas and is over 20 times stronger than Carbon Dioxide. It has a shorter atmospheric lifespan with only 10 years; which makes it an excellent target for countries like ours that want to make an effort toward possibly reducing climate change. While long term goals are more important and being researched, methane’s short life span can give the world a quick fix if it can be severally reduced. One of the ways that this can be achieved is by capturing it before it enters the atmosphere.

3. -4 Phases of Decomposition-Phase 1- Decomposition consisting of aerobic bacteria breaking down fats, proteins and carbohydrates. Phase 2- The anaerobic bacteria take over, this causes the buried landfill to become highly acid and rich in nitrogen and phosphorus.Phase 3- Dissimilar kind of anaerobic bacterium begins making organic acids, like acetate, from the lactic and acetic acids.Phase 4- Methane producing anaerobic bacteria take hold and phase four begins; these bacteria and there symbiotic acetate bacteria create a constant production of methane gas that can last more than 20 years. The bacteria are the number one reason for the production of methane gas in landfills, with some of it coming from the breaking down of chemicals dumped alongside the solid wastes. Annually these bacteria produce 117.5 TgCO2, 1 Tg equals 1 million metric tons, or 5,593Gg of CH4 (Methane) making them the third largest producers of methane in the United States (Inventory of U.S, 2011). We trap, clean and use around 72.0 TgCO2 of that methane, keeping it from entering the atmosphere. Wells are drilled throughout the landfill and connected to a central pipe where the gas is filtered and cleaned before it is sent off to other sites to be used as heat or burned in order to power steam driven turbines. There are actually three methods used to control methane emissions from landfills; Oxidation, flaring, and capturing it for energy. Oxidation involves disturbing and shifting the landfill around to aerate it, which keeps the anaerobic bacteria from taking over and producing methane. In flaring, the gas is captured and then burned off, which is typical for smaller landfills with a capacity less than one million tons of waste. Lastly, is the growing and sustainable method of capturing and using it to heat boilers, which in turn run steam driven turbines.

4. On the east coast New Jersey alone has 21 landfills where methane is used to generate electricity, with four landfills in the meadowlands district powering 25,000 homes. New Jerseyians produce 50% more trash per day than the rest of the United States, averaging around 6.7 pounds per day. The state hopes that landfill energy will be able to supply 30 percent of its energy needs by 2012(Porter 2008). Between the states of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut they provide 169 megawatts of energy and 16.1 million cubic feet of gas daily for heat and other uses (Rather, 2008). On the other side of the country is the PERG or the Puerto Hills Energy Recovery from Gas facility located in California. It’s the largest landfill to gas facility in the country and has been operating since 1986 generating 50 megawatts of energy and powering 100,000 homes in southern California. The facility contains 40 miles of pipes and 400 vertical wells that collect the methane gas. (Valenti, 1992)

5. In the 1950’s Port Angeles opened its own 22 acre landfill to collect and hold its city’s waste and it remained open until 2006. It currently holds 1,026,000 tons of garbage from its creation nearly 58 years ago and until recently was flaring the methane/carbon dioxide gas off to keep it from entering the atmosphere. In Washington State a percentage of power must come from sustainable resources due to recently passed legislature, and recently the City of Port Angeles began looking at its closed landfill. It’s estimated that this year an estimated 220 scfm will be used for powering the community and prevent 3,200 metric tons of CO2 emissions from other conventional sources, which is equivalent to 7,500 barrels of oil being consumed.

6. Benefits of Methane Gas & downside to Methane Gas In conclusion, turning our trash into a sustainable resource has been around for years and continues to grow as we look for other sustainable ways to provide energy for ourgrowing populations. Not only does this method of energy production keep millions of metric tons of methane from entering our atmosphere each year, it also provides cheap usable energy to the public and private industries. States like New Jersey, New York and California are paving the way and showing that is a viable way to lessen our need for carbon based energy. As we move into the future there definitely needs to be more government support to make this more appealing means of sustainable energy. replacement of using carbon based energy or natural gas “Tapping landfills for energy” A kilowatt of electricity costs only 4 cents, and a cubic foot of gas is one dollar, compared to natural gas which is as high as 3 dollars per cubic foot. The downside to this is that a one and a half megawatt producing facility cost 2-3 million to set up and to maintain the equipment two of the four cents per kilowatts needs to go to maintenance (Valenti, 1992). This leaves the problem of it taking years for the original production cost to be paid off. There are hopes that the federal government will subsidize the building of these facilities to make it appealing to landfills and in turn create jobs and decrease our environmental impact.

7. References Cited: • n.a (2011). Inventory of U.S Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks. Retrieved from: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads11/US-GHG-Inventory-2011-Complete_Report.pdf • n.a (14 Feb, 2012). Landfill Methane Outreach Program: Basic Information. Retrieved from: http://www.epa.gov/lmop/basic-info/index.html • Porter, D (2008 October 26). New Jersey Landfills Capture The Methane They Produce, Turn It Into Energy. Huffington Post. Retrieved From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/27/new-jersey-landfills-capt_n_138076.html • Rather, J (2008). Tapping Power From Trash. New York Times. Retrieved From: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/14Rmethane.html?pagewanted=all • Valenti, M (1992). Tapping Landfills for Energy [Abstract]. Retrieved from Proquest online

8. Pictures:httpwww.peninsuladailynews.comarticle20120118NEWS301189996port-angeles-seeks-sale-of-landfills-methane-gashttp://www.a2gov.org/government/publicservices/systems_planning/energy/Pages/LandfillGas.aspxhttp://bcldatabases.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-jersey-landfill-locationstatus.htmlhttp://www.epa.gov/lmop/partners/toolkit/process.htmlhttp://www.cowpattypatty.com/?p=135Pictures:httpwww.peninsuladailynews.comarticle20120118NEWS301189996port-angeles-seeks-sale-of-landfills-methane-gashttp://www.a2gov.org/government/publicservices/systems_planning/energy/Pages/LandfillGas.aspxhttp://bcldatabases.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-jersey-landfill-locationstatus.htmlhttp://www.epa.gov/lmop/partners/toolkit/process.htmlhttp://www.cowpattypatty.com/?p=135