RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.How One N.Y. Landfill Conducts Open House Events to Educate Residents
By Megan Greenwalt, Waste 360.
For the past 14 years, officials at a landfill in New York have opened the site to the public annually as a way to build relationships and remain transparent, in addition to having a little fun.
The Mill Seat Landfill in Riga, N.Y., operated by Houston-based Waste Management, will host the year’s open house on July 28 as an educational event. It's aimed at giving residents insights into how the landfill operates, including on its renewable energy production.
An information fair with more than 20 displays will also give attendees the opportunity to talk with all of the entities that work in conjunction with the landfill, including engineers, contractors, consultants and regulators.
White House threatens to veto EPA, Interior spending bill
By Devin Henry, The Hill.
The Obama administration is threatening to veto a 2017 spending bill for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Interior Department.
The House is set to consider a $32.1 billion bill for the two departments and other programs this week. The legislation would cut spending for the departments by $64 million from current spending levels and is $1 billion less than what President Obama requested in his budget.
The bill also contains policy riders designed to block administration rules on water, power plan emissions and coal mining.
N.Y.’s Zero Waste Challenge Helped Divert More Than 36,000 Tons of Waste from Landfill
By Waste 360.
New York’s Zero Waste Challenge, which was created and led by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio as part of the city’s OneNYC plan to send zero waste to landfill by 2030, started in February 2016 and ended in June 2016. Thirty-one businesses, including Whole Foods, Barclays Center and ABC/Disney, participated in the challenge and worked together to divert 36,910 tons of waste from landfill and incineration by composting more than 24,500 tons of organic material and donating 322 tons of food to the city’s needy.
“In OneNYC, we made a commitment to sending zero waste to landfill by 2030,” said de Blasio in a press release. “Our Zero Waste Challenge and the participants have proven that a collected effort helps reduce unnecessary waste. Together, businesses from a variety of sectors diverted 36,910 tons of waste that would have otherwise been sent to a landfill. This challenge proves that our commitment can be achieved so long as every New Yorker does their part to create a more sustainable city. My thanks to the businesses that stepped up to the challenge.”
Fair Oaks Farm Harnesses the Power of Natural Gas from Cow Manure
Watch how Fair Oaks Farms in Indiana uses manure to power a fleet of milk delivery trucks.
MMSD to tap more landfill gas for electricity
By Don Behm of the Journal Sentinel.
The appetite for landfill gas is growing at the state's largest sewage treatment plant, where the fuel is burned — at a lower cost than natural gas — to generate electricity and dry Milorganite fertilizer.
The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District would buy all of the gas that Waste Management of Wisconsin can extract from its Metro landfill in Franklin, under a preliminary agreement to be reviewed Monday by district commissioners.
To make good on the deal, the company would stop burning the gas in turbines at its own electrical power plant on the Metro property, one of the first landfill waste-to-energy projects in the United States, said Lynn Morgan, a spokeswoman for Waste Management. Since 1985, the company has sold the power to We Energies.
RNG Coalition member Xergi wins prestigious industry award with Danish biogas plant
By Bioenergy Insight.
Danish biogas plant builder Xergi won the category for “Best international agricultural plant” at the AD & Biogas Industry Awards last week.
The award, given to the company for its Nature Energy Holsted biogas plant in Denmark, which was commissioned in 2015, was handed out at the AD & Biogas show in Birmingham, UK, on 6-7 July.
Jørgen Ballermann, CEO at Xergi, said he sees the award as “an acknowledgment” of the company’s technical solutions
Gov. Raimondo Praises Renewable and Natural-Gas Power
By Tim Faulkner, Eco Rhode Island.
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. — Ahead of a July 18 public meeting with Burrillville residents, Gov. Gina Raimondo recently reiterated her support for the proposed Clear River Energy Center.
In a seemingly contradictory defense of the nearly 1,000-megwatt project, she said Rhode Island's overwhelming reliance on natural-gas-generated electricity justifies building another natural-gas power plant.
“As a bridge to renewables, I do support natural gas. It’s where we get 98 percent of energy in Rhode Island,” Raimondo said July 7, after signing two bills that expand renewable-energy development incentives in Rhode Island.
Kate Brown to lawmakers: a repeal of Oregon's low-carbon fuels law is off limits in transportation talks
By Hillary Borrud, The Oregonian / OregonLive.
As a committee of Oregon lawmakers tours the state this summer in an effort to build support for a possible 2017 transportation-funding package, there's one topic Gov. Kate Brown asked them to avoid: a repeal of the state's low-carbon fuel law.
Brown made her expectation clear at a May 4 invitation-only meeting of lawmakers, lobbyists and business executives in Portland, where she said a repeal of the state's low-carbon fuel law was off the table, according to drafts of her prepared remarks released by the governor's office and people who attended the meeting.
Crane Mountain tests technology to recover more methane gas
By Sarah Trainor, CBC News.
New technology to extract landfill gas will soon be tested at Saint John's Crane Mountain landfill.
The landfill already generates electricity using methane gas collected from wells drilled into decaying trash.
But the current setup has its challenges, said Marc MacLeod, general manager of the Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission.
"Those wells flood with water, or leachate, that's what it's called once it touches the garbage," MacLeod said Thursday on Information Morning Saint John. "So if you have 20 feet of exposed well where you can suck out the gas, the majority of wells are filled with 10 feet of water.
"So instead of having that 20 feet of exposure in the garbage you only have 10. This technology is meant to pull that extra garbage out."
Ener-Core moves away from manufacturing its own landfill gas-to-energy equipment
By Cole Rosengren, Waste Dive.
Dive Brief:
- Ener-Core, Inc. has signed a license agreement giving Dresser-Rand—owned by Siemens—the exclusive rights to manufacture its power oxidizer gas turbines.
- Dresser-Rand and Siemens will expand the product's reach by selling it to new and existing industrial customers. Ener-Core will receive a license fee payment for each unit sold.
- The technology is used to convert low-quality waste gases, such as landfill emissions, into heat and power. This agreement covers turbines within the 1 to 4 MW power capacity range.
Don’t miss an update—join our weekly newsletter below.