Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WMI) announced that it plans to use its expertise as the nation’s largest developer of landfill gas to energy (LFGTE) projects to partner with private and municipal landfill owners to develop the country’s untapped landfill gas resources.
Last year the company set an ambitious goal to develop up to 60
LFGTE projects at its landfills by 2012. To date the company has
completed or launched the development of over a dozen projects across
North America. The program to develop partnerships with other private
and municipally owned landfills furthers Waste Management’s commitment
to generate waste based renewable power.
Waste Management’s Renewable Energy group provides full service support
to municipal and private landfill operators that lack the resources to
develop LFGTE projects.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) has endorsed
landfill gas as an environmentally wise alternative energy resource
that reduces the country’s reliance on fossil fuels like coal and oil.
Landfill gas is also an important source of waste-based, renewable
energy that can generate distributed base load power. There are
currently 445 LFGTE sites in operation across the country, but the U.S.
EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) has identified 535
additional sites (out of 1,700 total operating landfills) as promising
candidates for LFGTE facilities. Fully developed, LMOP estimates these
additional landfills could produce over 1,200 megawatts of electricity,
enough to power more than 1 million homes.
Waste Management’s third-party LFGTE development team recently broke ground on a LFGTE facility at the municipal owned Madison County landfill near Syracuse, New York. There, Waste Management will develop a 1.4-megawatt LFGTE facility.
"Waste Management pioneered landfill gas to energy technology over two decades ago, and we operate more of these facilities than any other company in North America," said Paul Pabor, vice president of renewable energy. "As the largest operator of landfills, we understand how landfills operate and how best to leverage this valuable resource."
Landfill gas, produced when microorganisms break down organic material in the landfill, is composed of approximately 50-60% methane and 40-50% carbon dioxide. At most landfills in the United States, the methane is simply burned off. LFGTE facilities use methane gas to power generators offsetting power otherwise generated from fossil fuel.
Waste Management is North America’s largest operator of LFGTE facilities, with renewable energy projects at 112 of its landfills.
About Waste Management
Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, is a leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America.
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