Fuel from Trash Will Power California Garbage Trucks
300 garbage collection trucks in California will soon be fueled by the same trash that they haul. Landfill gas will be purified and liquefied, producing up to 13,000 gallons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) daily.
This facility at Waste Management’s (WMI: NYSE) Altamont Landfill in Livermore, California will begin operation in 2009. It comes with a price tag of $15.5 million, with grants providing $1.4 million.
Cleaner Fuel
Waste Management is the largest waste management company in North America and operates the largest US fleet of heavy-duty collection trucks. The company has a goal to reduce fleet emissions by 15% by 2020.
The new facility will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 30,000 tons per year, according to Linde North America. LNG is a cleaner burning transportation fuel that emits less nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide and particulates than diesel-fueled vehicles.
Duane Woods, senior vice president, Western group of Waste Management, said, “This will be the largest plant of its kind and we hope to break new ground by producing commercial quantities. Natural gas is already the cleanest burning fuel available for our collection trucks, and the opportunity to use recovered landfill gas offers enormous environmental benefits to the communities we serve.”
Demand for Low-carbon Fuels
California passed a law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020 and other states may follow. Demand for low-carbon fuels is expected to increase significantly in California as the state starts requiring a decrease in carbon emissions. Waste Management will be ahead of the curve by having plants like this in operation, creating lucrative business opportunities.
Related Posts on Alternative Fuels:
- Landfill Gas Heats and Powers School
- The Cleanest Cars on Earth: Honda Civic GX and Other Natural Gas Vehicles (NGV’s)
- Natural Gas Cars: CNG Fuel Almost Free in Some Parts of the Country
Photo Credit: Waste Management
We certainly have no shortage of energy. I agree that desert solar plants are very promising, especially solar thermal energy storage capabilities. Here is another post on that topic:
http://cleantechnica.com/2008/03/27/solar-thermal-electricity-can-it-replace-coal-gas-and-oil/
Response to Alex:
I recommend you check out http://www.CarbonAngel.com. Carbon Angel offers a calculator to determine your carbon footprint, as well as the opportunity to buy carbon credits to offset your carbon emissions. A pretty valuable system until the industries are developed that will drastically decrease our reliance on processes that emit carbon! I’m an intern with Trust for the Future, and I highly suggest checking out Carbon Angel!
On a more relevant note, I do believe new technologies like this trash-to-energy in CA are bringing real progress to the clean energy and energy efficiency scene, albeit it’s still happening on a small scale thus far. The biggest difference from decades past is the public awareness of the need for better energy sources, and the popular excitement pushing in that direction.