Thoughts from the briefing for Congressional staff on renewable natural gas

March 26, 2009 by Paula Gant · 1 Comment
Filed under: energy

The briefing on renewable natural gas to Congressional staff we did earlier in the week went very well. I am very pleased we got an opportunity to continue educating others about the options we have using renewable natural gas and our existing distribution network.

Here is a powerpoint from Chris Voell of the Environmental Protection Agency titled, “Renewable Biogas: Environmental Protection and Energy Independence.” You can download the full pdf here. It’s a large file so it may take a moment.

I’ve pulled out some interesting graphics and stats for a quick view.

Here’s a slide showing the projects across the country.

Some stats on the projects include:

450 electricity generation
135 direct use (medium Btu)
25 high Btu pipeline quality gas
- AR, CA(2), GA(2), KS, LA, MI(2), NY, OH(3), PA(8), TN, TX(3), WI
- Less than 5% of total projects
GHG reductions from currently operating methane capture and use projects:
- Direct Methane – 3.5 million metric tons CH4/year
- Avoided CO2 – 9 million metric tons CO2e/year
- Total Reductions – 80+ million metric tons CO2e/year
Environmental equivalent to reducing CO2 emissions from:
- More than 200,000,000 barrels of oil consumed, or
- Nearly 16,000,000 passenger vehicles, or
- Burning more than 450,000 railcars’ worth of coal.
Energy equivalent to:
- Powering more than 915,000 homes and heating more than 700,000 home

The presentation also includes some bullets on different case studies like the one from Fresh Kills Landfill, NY pictured above.

Fresh Kills Landfill, NY

Began operation in the late 1970s
LFG-to-high Btu pipeline quality
- Selexol (chemical technology)
Largest plant of its kind until 2007

Valley and Monroeville Landfills, PA

Began operation in 2006
LFG-to-high Btu pipeline quality (2 plants)
- Membrane technology
Delivery of gas to:
- low-pressure local distribution pipeline
- high-pressure gas transmission line

Scenic View Dairy, MI

Began operation in 2007
Dairy farm digester (3,500 head)
Manure biogas-to-high Btu pipeline quality
- Pressure swing absorption technology
Small scale – 150 cfm of biogas

Hilarides Dairy, CA

Began operation in 2009
Dairy farm digester (9,000 head)
Manure biogas-to-vehicle fuel
- Pressure swing absorption technology
Biomethane is compressed for use as vehicle fuel-displacing diesel fuel.

Renee Rippchen left a great comment on my last post. As I told her, I like hearing about how people are creating energy around this issue, so let me know what you’re doing.

Share:

Tags: biogas, renewable

Briefing for Congressional staff on renewable natural gas

March 23, 2009 by Paula Gant · 2 Comments
Filed under: Natural Gas, energy

We’re working with the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and the Gas Technology Institute to provide a briefing for Congressional staff on renewable natural gas tomorrow. Renewable natural gas is an important part of the portfolio of clean energy solutions. But what is renewable natural gas you say?

Renewable natural gas is a biogas which has been upgraded to a quality similar to natural gas. One of the attractions of renewable natural gas is that by upgrading the quality to that of natural gas, it becomes possible to distribute the gas to customers via the existing gas grid, and burned within existing appliances.

We’ve had biogas on our radar for a while. A growing number of our members are interested in this energy option.

As are some really big energy players like Royal Dutch Shell. This energy giant announced just last week their decision to discontinue investment in renewable technologies such as wind, solar and hydro power because they feel they are not economic. Instead Shell plans to invest more in biofuels – like renewable natural gas — which do not use food-based crops and are less harmful to the environment.

I’ve actually written on biogas before on this blog but here’s a little more information. Biogas originates from biogenic material and is a type of biofuel. One type of bio-gas is produced by fermentation of biodegradable materials such as biomass, manure or sewage, municipal waste, green waste and energy crops. The other principal type of biogas is wood gas which is created by gasification of wood or other biomass.

Biogas can be used as a low-cost fuel for any heating purpose, such as cooking. Biogas can also be used in modern waste management facilities where it can be used to run any type of heat engine, to generate either mechanical or electrical power. Biogas can be compressed, like natural gas, and used to power motor vehicles.

Leave a comment if you have questions on biogas and I’ll be happy to try and answer them. I’ll also write later about my thoughts on the briefing. We are excited about the opportunity to continue educating others about the options we have using renewable natural gas and our existing distribution network.

Share:

Tags: biogas, renewable

Running Out of Energy: Is the glass half full or half empty?

December 10, 2008 by Chris McGill · 3 Comments
Filed under: energy

glasshalffull Running Out of Energy: Is the glass half full or half empty? Which is it? Regarding U.S. natural gas the answer seems clear. Domestic natural gas reserves made their largest leap since records have been kept, increasing by more than 26 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) from year-end 2006 to year-end 2007, according to the Energy Information Administration (U.S. Department of Energy),

www.eia.doe.gov/ direct link.

This occurred even though the reserves base was being drawn down by more than 19 Tcf during the same period, as domestic natural gas was produced to heat homes and fuel businesses. So, does the United States have a relatively clean energy resource that is growing – not precipitously declining? Can it be sustained? Sources of methane may include: