Tag Archives: renewable

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.