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Methane Capture from Landfills
Some local governments are putting their garbage to work. The trash we bury in landfills decomposes slowly and produces methane, a greenhouse gas that escapes into the atmosphere. But some local governments have chosen to harness the methane by capturing it and turning it into an independent, local energy source.
Capturing methane has been by far the leading factor in Albuquerque, NM’s dramatic drop in greenhouse emissions, according to the Department of Environmental Health. The department estimates the greenhouse emissions from city operations decreased by two-thirds from 2000 to 2005 - from 316,383 to 105,784 metric tons. The bulk of the improvement came from capturing methane gas that would otherwise have been emitted from landfills.
In 1995, the City of Greensboro, NC entered into an agreement with Duke Energy to develop a renewable energy recovery system. This system collects and transports methane gas that is created by the decomposition of organic materials found in the landfill. The gas is collected from the landfill through a series of pipes that have been placed below the surface of the waste. The gas is then transported to the program’s industrial partner, Cone Mills, by way of a three-mile pipeline. The gas is burned in boilers to generate steam in order to operate machinery in the Cone Mills’ textile plant. The methane is sold to Cone Mills at a lower cost than other natural gases, thereby lowering their utility costs. Historically, the City of Greensboro has received around $30,000 annually from the sale of the landfill gas.
