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May 01, 2005
Ways to Utilize Our Most Natural By-Product
By: Pamela
Last week the “president” declared, with his typically stunning rhetorical acumen, that:
“’technology is the ticket’ for ’a problem that has been years in the making’ and will take time to resolve. He said he was determined to spur development of more nuclear power, coal, oil and renewable energy and again called on Congress to provide him with a national energy agenda.” (from an AP article on Comcast’s homepage – no longer available for linking)
Notice the placing of renewable energy on his list of solutions—dead last after nukes, coal and oil. His complete lack of acknowledgement of existing alternative forms of energy is perplexing to me. Again and again attempts to promote alternative, renewable energy have been stonewalled from broad development by big oil and related corporate interests. I’m not suggesting Bush is solely to blame for our current crisis, far from it. But once again he personifies our nation’s inability to revise faulty ideology. We continue to live a lifestyle that is non-sustainable, calling on band-aid science to stall what I see is an inevitable environmental backlash.
There are myriad existing alternative energy options. One extremely renewable and sustainable product is methane. My brother, Marco Ramos, wrote a short paper for a class that is a case study of the Puente Hills landfill, the largest landfill in Los Angeles county, which “implemented an innovative program that puts the city’s garbage to good use.” His entire paper is available here: Tapping Landfills for a Cleaner Environment and Stronger Economy. He explained to me that the paper is stated simply (so as to be understandable to a broad audience), it is an easy and enjoyable read.
The process is relatively simple, and extremely intuitive if we consider the amount of methane gas that is generated organically by humans and large agricultural concerns. Marco notes that the Puente Hills landfill accomplishes separation of gas from waste via “an intricate plumbing system [which] captures landfill gas (LFG) and then separates out the methane portion. Later, the methane is burned to produce energy.”
Separating out the methane in the manner developed by the Puente Hills Landfill provides a fuel source (he notes that methane is what we know as “natural” gas), and improves local air quality. Methane does burn, and emissions occur from burning methane, but at less than half the output of traditional petroleum-based fuels (see essay). Additionally, utilizing methane gas makes productive use out of our waste, and does not require the invasive—potentially devastating—extraction and/or generative dangers that other forms of energy such as are inherent to producing oil and nuclear power.
Marco notes in his paper that “the conversion program was so successful at reducing engine emissions, that the Los Angeles Country Sanitation District expanded it to include gas-burning fleet vehicles such as ride share vans and passenger cars.” Another perk that should appeal to those with a nose for economics is that when burning methane gas, “in order to prevent carbon dioxide from escaping into the environment, it is separated from LFG and packaged for industrial use,” and this carbon dioxide is sold for industrial use—most notably to the Coca-Cola for their soft drinks.
Finally, the energy generated from this site has been extremely economical. Marco states, “methane gas, extracted from LFG, powers an onsite, 50-megawatt electricity generator. Part of the electricity powers the LFG capture facility and District administrative offices, but 90% is sold to Southern California Edison. Revenues from the sale are impressive. The entire gas collection and separation facility, and power plant were paid off after six years of operation.” With the price of oil today, which has virtually doubled since the time of the Puente Hills conversion, the pay-off would come much sooner.
Marco is studying to become an engineer specializing in sustainable systems (he taught me everything I know about hay bale and tire houses, composting, and grey water), has met the man who engineered the Puente Hills Landfill project. He describes him as an extremely intelligent, modest and forthcoming man, who has volunteered to arrange a tour of the plant so that Marco can understand the engineering. It is a shame to me that these kinds of thinkers are not today’s heroes.
So with this small, successful project as a shining example, why is our president suggesting we need to “develop” nuclear power, oil and coal, when it is clear that methane gas is an excellent source of alternative energy? Why doesn’t every landfill in this country extract energy from its copious waste in this manner?
Posted by Pamela at May 1, 2005 09:19 PM Category: Alternatives
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Comments
Methane is one of my "I have a dream" alternative energy sources. I envision sewer treatment plants turned into methane collection stations which could then either be used to power generators, or be piped back to homes for heating and cooking. Given that the stuff really stinks (there may be a way to deal with that), probably electric generation makes more sense. The "sludge" left has been purified of anaerobic bacteria and is a very good, clean, fertilizer, and the water is purer without chemical purification.
Posted by: Rowan at May 2, 2005 04:46 AM
I remember reading a couple of years ago about a town up north somewhere that was doing the methane thing. They were being paid for accepting garbage and were piling it on top of these huge mats then trapping methane and selling it. They were then converting these mounds into grassy knolls and people were skiing and sledding on them in the winter. They were making all kinds of money and pumping it back into the community, all for basically composting garbage and selling methane from it.
Posted by: goesh at May 2, 2005 01:51 PM
Hello Rowan: How’s this for good luck? There is at least one inexpensive solution that will control the bad smell from a sewage treatment plant, and increase the production and quality of methane gas. The solution is to cap the sewage holding tanks. We only need to close them off so smell can’t escape and oxygen can’t enter.
Methane production favors an anaerobic environment. Think for a moment about conditions deep inside a Los Angeles landfill. All the garbage is sealed away from fresh air and reactive oxygen. In the absence of abundant oxygen, the decomposing carbon reacts with hydrogen and out pours that stinky, flammable methane gas.
Capping the sewage tanks would create the anaerobic environment that creates more stink, but it also captures the stink so we can convert it to electric energy.
Those large flat caldrons you see at the sewage treatment facility, the uncapped ponds with the slow-circling stir arms, are aerobic digesters. The idea there is to reduce the stinky methane by providing plenty of reactive oxygen. However, even with all the fresh air here in the City of Angels, aerobic digesters still leak off methane (and sulfur, nitrogen and carbon compounds). How’s this for irony? The methane energy (an asset) is leaking away to become a greenhouse gas (a liability), even as the stir arm draws electric energy (an expense) from greenhouse-gas-producing power plant (another liability).
Sustainable energy isn’t just about saving the environment, is it? It’s also about saving money. As my economics teacher used to say, “Waste is loss or liability and it reduces your bottom line.”
Posted by: Marco Ramos at May 2, 2005 11:43 PM