Production of Renewable Energy
At Redwood Landfill and Recycling Center, we are constantly looking for new ways to benefit our community and the environment. One potential project we are very excited about is converting our landfill gas to energy for local use.
Landfill gas to energy (LFGTE) projects offer a potentially significant source of renewable, local, and reliable power that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and provides a net reduction of air pollutants. Right now our landfill gas is flared. Flaring the gas safely destroys organic compounds but it doesn't harness the renewable energy potential. Redwood currently is working with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and other agencies to begin development of a landfill gas to energy project that could generate power for thousands of Bay Area homes
Redwood's parent company, Waste Management, is one of the largest producers of waste derived energy in the country. The company is bringing 10 new landfill gas to energy facilities on line in 2007 alone, with 60 more planned over the next 5 years.
Advantages of Using Landfill Gas to Energy (LFGTE):
- Signifiant energy supplies: very megawatt of LFGTE produces enough electricity to power approximately 1,000 California homes.
- At Redwood we estimate that we could generate enough energy from our landfill gas to power 4,000 - 5,000 homes in Marin County - the energy equivalent of 40,000 to 50,000 barrels of oil.
- Distributed generation: Energy from landfill gas is a local, reliable source of power that can help California meet its distributed generation energy goals and reduce reliance on foreign natural gas sources subject to greater supply and price volatility.
- Renewable Energy: Energy from landfill gas is renewable energy, which can help the state meet its renewable portfolio standard goal of 20% renewable power by 2017.
While there are still regulatory hurdles to overcome before we can begin constructing this project, we believe that landfill gas-to-energy has an important role in Marin County's future energy supply. Turning naturally produced gas from waste decomposition in the landfill into green, renewable, local energy is a way for Marin to be more self-sufficient and less dependent on fossil fuels. This project will also help the County achieve its greenhouse gas reduction goals by replacing some of the energy currently produced with natural gas or other fossil fuels with energy created from a byproduct of the landfilling process.
We look forward to partnering with Marin and producing home-grown green energy!