RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.IKEA installs fourth biogas-powered fuel cell system at its San Diego store
By Bioenergy Insight.
Home furnishings giant IKEA has announced that it has completed installation of its fourth biogas-powered fuel cell system at its San Diego store.
Furthering the Swedish retailer’s investment in fuel cell technology, this project complements the company’s focus on other renewable energies such as solar and wind. IKEA already owns three fuel cell systems at stores in California, with one more planned.
With the San Diego fuel cell system installed, commissioned and operational, IKEA is on track to generate—in total—1.5 MW of energy via fuel cells, supplementing onsite solar arrays atop all these stores.
Read more...
Sioux City, Iowa, approves $9.3 million renewable natural gas project
By Justin Wan, Sioux City Journal.
SIOUX CITY | Sioux City Council members gave favorable reviews Monday to a $9.3 million project that will allow the city to capture, clean and compress gas at its wastewater treatment plant, then sell it as renewable fuel.
The council voted 4-0 Monday to enter into an agreement with a West Des Moines-based firm for engineering and planning services for the project.
That vote followed approval of a similar agreement for planning on a project that will include about $16 million in other maintenance and upgrades that will eventually increase the capacity of the treatment facility.
By Justin Wan, Sioux City Journal.
SIOUX CITY | Sioux City Council members gave favorable reviews Monday to a $9.3 million project that will allow the city to capture, clean and compress gas at its wastewater treatment plant, then sell it as renewable fuel.
The council voted 4-0 Monday to enter into an agreement with a West Des Moines-based firm for engineering and planning services for the project.
That vote followed approval of a similar agreement for planning on a project that will include about $16 million in other maintenance and upgrades that will eventually increase the capacity of the treatment facility.
"This is a huge deal," Mayor Bob Scott said of the renewable fuel project.
The project, which would take about two years to complete, will put in place a system to capture, clean and compress a gas created as a byproduct during the anaerobic digestion process the city uses to break down raw sludge to turn it into biosolids.
Once the proposed project is complete, the gas would either be used in the city's fleet of vehicles or be channeled into a nearby MidAmerican Energy or Northern Natural Gas pipeline to be sold as renewable fuel.
Mark Simms, Sioux City's utilities director, said the wastewater treatment plant in Des Moines, Iowa, also cleans its gas, along with about a dozen facilities around the nation.
"We’re not first in line for this, but we would be one of the few in Iowa or the region that would be doing this," Simms said.
Simms told the council the gas would have about 10 times the market value of natural gas, and the project would pay for itself in about 2 years based on forecasts.
Report: Global Biogas Market to Reach $50 billion by 2026
By Ben Messenger, Waste Management World.
Due to mounting concerns over depleting fossil reserves and the environmental impact of conventional fuels, global biogas revenues are expected to grow at a steady 6.5% CAGR from nearly $24.5 Billion in 2015 to around $48.8 billion in 2026, according to a new report from Future Market Insights.
By Ben Messenger, Waste Management World.
Due to mounting concerns over depleting fossil reserves and the environmental impact of conventional fuels, global biogas revenues are expected to grow at a steady 6.5% CAGR from nearly $24.5 Billion in 2015 to around $48.8 billion in 2026, according to a new report from Future Market Insights.
During the forecast period 2016-2026, the authors stated that between 2016 and 2026, the global biogas revenues will double, with Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Latin America among key regions fuelling demand.
The APAC biogas market is predicted to grow relatively fast at 9.2% CAGR, while Latin America will account for over 50% of the global biogas revenues.
In North America, adoption of biogas plants was forecast to drop considerably, owing to rising preference for solar power in the US. By 2026-end, North America’s biogas plant was predicted to be valued over $9.6 billion.
GOP pushing 3 bills in Congress to restrain federal regulations
By Carolyn Lochhead, San Francisco Chronicle
WASHINGTON — Freed from the constraint of a presidential veto, Republicans are moving rapidly on industry-backed legislation that could paralyze the government’s ability to protect the environment, public health and virtually everything else federal agencies regulate.
The onslaught began last week with a trio of House bills — two of them approved and sent to the Senate — that would gut the administrative process used for decades to implement the practical details of such landmark laws as the Food and Drug Act, the Clean Air Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The centerpiece of the Republican action was the REINS Act, which cleared the House on Friday, with an amendment that extended its reach to include all regulations adopted by federal agencies within the past 10 years. Approved on a largely party-line vote, it swiftly drew companion Senate legislation.
By Carolyn Lochhead, San Francisco Chronicle
WASHINGTON — Freed from the constraint of a presidential veto, Republicans are moving rapidly on industry-backed legislation that could paralyze the government’s ability to protect the environment, public health and virtually everything else federal agencies regulate.
The onslaught began last week with a trio of House bills — two of them approved and sent to the Senate — that would gut the administrative process used for decades to implement the practical details of such landmark laws as the Food and Drug Act, the Clean Air Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The centerpiece of the Republican action was the REINS Act, which cleared the House on Friday, with an amendment that extended its reach to include all regulations adopted by federal agencies within the past 10 years. Approved on a largely party-line vote, it swiftly drew companion Senate legislation.
The act would require any rule costing industry more than $100 million — a dollar figure that amounts to any significant regulation — to be submitted to Congress. If either chamber fails to approve the rule within 70 days, the rule would die.
The rules could affect everything from food labeling and nutrition requirements for restaurants to performance standards for residential wood stoves and energy efficiency standards in grocery store coolers to banking and public health. One major rule adopted after the financial crisis requires banks to hold larger cash reserves. A 2014 rule cleans up tailpipe emissions from cars. A 2009 rule for the first time allowed regulation of tobacco.
The regulations result from acts of Congress, which approve laws such as the Clean Air Act or the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul bill, but leave the regulations that serve to implement the laws to experts in the federal agencies. As a practical matter, the Republican bills would shift regulatory power from executive branch agencies bound by scientific and legal protocols to the political realm of Congress.
Gov. Jerry Brown pushes to extend cap-and-trade program with new budget proposal
By Chris Megerian, The Los Angeles Times.
Gov. Jerry Brown announced Tuesday his plan to prod lawmakers to solidify California's emissions cap-and-trade program, the centerpiece of the state's climate change agenda.
Pushing forward in California has only become more important with federal action on global warming less likely under President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration, the governor said.
By Chris Megerian, The Los Angeles Times.
Gov. Jerry Brown announced Tuesday his plan to prod lawmakers to solidify California's emissions cap-and-trade program, the centerpiece of the state's climate change agenda.
Pushing forward in California has only become more important with federal action on global warming less likely under President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration, the governor said.
"Given the fact that the federal government is going in the opposite direction, I would think that Californians wants to strengthen their own commitment," he said during a Capitol news conference where he unveiled his budget plans. "We ought to continue and not fall back on our efforts."
Cap-and-trade works by requiring companies to purchase permits in order to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, creating a financial incentive to reduce pollution. The program is currently mired in a legal battle over whether it's an unconstitutional tax, and a court date is scheduled for later this month.
Brown wants to eliminate the uncertainty stemming from the lawsuit and other legal questions about whether the program can continue past 2020. His plan requires a two-thirds vote in both houses of the Legislature, the legal standard for approving taxes.
US Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office publishes biofuels report
By Biofuels International.
The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced the publication of a report, titled Biofuels and Bioproducts from Wet and Gaseous Waste Streams: Challenges and Opportunities.
According to the US department, the report is the first comprehensive assessment of the resource potential and technology opportunities provided by feedstocks, including wastewater treatment-derived sludge and biosolids, animal manure, food waste, inedible fats and greases, biogas, and carbon dioxide streams.
By Biofuels International.
The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced the publication of a report, titled Biofuels and Bioproducts from Wet and Gaseous Waste Streams: Challenges and Opportunities.
According to the US department, the report is the first comprehensive assessment of the resource potential and technology opportunities provided by feedstocks, including wastewater treatment-derived sludge and biosolids, animal manure, food waste, inedible fats and greases, biogas, and carbon dioxide streams.
These feedstocks can be converted into renewable natural gas, diesel, and aviation fuels, or into valuable bioproducts.
Complementary to the ‘2016 Billion-Ton Report’, this new resource assessment, conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, concludes that wet and gaseous organic waste streams represent a substantial and underutilized set of feedstocks for biofuels and biopower.
The analysis found that the United States has the potential to use 77 million dry tons of wet waste per year, which would generate about 1,300 trillion British thermal units (Btu) of energy.
Disagreements Over Oregon Clean Fuels Program Could Resurface this Year Amid Need for Transportation Package
By Gordon Friedman, Oregon Live.
Weeks before lawmakers return to the Capitol for what's shaping up as a difficult 2017 session, one of their signature goals is facing serious challenges.
A special committee that toured the state for months to craft plans for shoring up Oregon's transportation system has yet to agree on what a multimillion-dollar proposal should look like. They don't know which projects it will include. They can't say how those projects will be financed.
By Gordon Friedman, Oregon Live.
Weeks before lawmakers return to the Capitol for what's shaping up as a difficult 2017 session, one of their signature goals is facing serious challenges.
A special committee that toured the state for months to craft plans for shoring up Oregon's transportation system has yet to agree on what a multimillion-dollar proposal should look like. They don't know which projects it will include. They can't say how those projects will be financed.
They also aren't sure they can guarantee state officials will spend the money wisely. Instead, they're waiting for an audit that will tell them whether the Oregon Department of Transportation can manage a larger budget.
Those concerns bubbled from interviews with lawmakers and during a hearing last month where legislators aired a long list of priorities alongside worries that reaching a complicated deal could take months. Because a deal would likely include a gas tax increase, any package would need bipartisan support.
"It is troublesome that so much time has elapsed describing the problem," said Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, a key voice on transportation issues, "and we are still without a working draft of a bill."
Some of the problems that plagued a much-hyped plan two years ago -- chiefly, partisan disagreements over clean fuel standards -- may resurface this year. Lawmakers may also find tension as they face another looming problem: how to plug a $1.7 billion budget hole.
And even if lawmakers do manage a deal, interest groups could rebel over any tax hikes, sending the package to voters.
Wastewater Bioenergy Project Selected by Department of Energy
By Carrie W. Capuco, WE&RF.
(Alexandria, VA) - A consortium led by the Water Environment & Reuse Foundation (WE&RF) has been selected by the Department of Energy for award negotiations to begin Phase 1 design and planning for a pilot plant to produce clean hydrocarbon fuels at a municipal wastewater treatment facility. The project will use breakthrough technology to produce fuels such as gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and renewable natural gas from wastewater solids.
By Carrie W. Capuco, WE&RF.
(Alexandria, VA) - A consortium led by the Water Environment & Reuse Foundation (WE&RF) has been selected by the Department of Energy for award negotiations to begin Phase 1 design and planning for a pilot plant to produce clean hydrocarbon fuels at a municipal wastewater treatment facility. The project will use breakthrough technology to produce fuels such as gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and renewable natural gas from wastewater solids.
The Central Contra Costa Sanitary District, near Oakland, California, will host the pilot system. The consortium includes WE&RF representing many of the 16,000 wastewater systems in the USA, Genifuel Corporation with technology from DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Merrick & Company, Southern California Gas Company, Tesoro Corporation, Metro Vancouver, MicroBio Engineering, Brown and Caldwell, and over a dozen utility partners.
The technology, called Hydrothermal Processing, converts waste solids from a wastewater treatment plant into biocrude oil and methane gas in less than one hour. The biocrude oil replaces fossil oil, providing green fuels with nearly zero net new carbon emissions. The methane gas can be used in the same ways as fossil natural gas. Biocrude oil produced in the system will be refined in an existing refinery, while the methane gas will be sold for transport in the gas pipeline system or used at the pilot plant to offset power needs elsewhere in the plant. If fully implemented in wastewater treatment operations across the U.S., the technology will produce more than two billion gallons of gasoline equivalent per year. The system also produces fertilizer byproducts.
'Food Power': How many apple cores does it take to power a light bulb?
By Cole Rosengren, Waste Dive.
Tackling food waste may seem daunting for the average consumer. Date labels can be confusing, shopping habits can seem hard to change and it may seem like one person's action can't make a difference when the problem is talked about on a national or global scale.
Save On Energy, an online marketplace, is trying to change that by putting food waste into more personal terms with a new project on energy usage dubbed "Food Power." Based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which estimates that approximately 1.3 billion metric tons of food produced for human consumption is wasted every year, the project uses North America's average per capita rate of 105 kilograms (approx. 231 pounds) as its baseline.
By Cole Rosengren, Waste Dive.
Tackling food waste may seem daunting for the average consumer. Date labels can be confusing, shopping habits can seem hard to change and it may seem like one person's action can't make a difference when the problem is talked about on a national or global scale.
Save On Energy, an online marketplace, is trying to change that by putting food waste into more personal terms with a new project on energy usage dubbed "Food Power." Based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which estimates that approximately 1.3 billion metric tons of food produced for human consumption is wasted every year, the project uses North America's average per capita rate of 105 kilograms (approx. 231 pounds) as its baseline.
Using the conversion formula for Impact Bioenergy's HORSE AD25 microdigester (10 pounds of food waste can generate between one to two kilowatt hours of electricity) the team extrapolated this data into household energy usage terms on a larger scale. Impact Bioenergy confirmed for Waste Dive that this formula could be applicable for demonstration purposes, with larger digesters operating closer to the two kilowatt hour level.
The logistics of collecting all of this food waste, let alone siting and permitting large-scale digesters to process it, is of course much more complicated. The Save On Energy team recognized this and said their main goal was to frame the issue in a more consumer-oriented way. As noted in the ReFED report, homes account for 43% of the food wasted by weight in the U.S. at a financial cost of $144 billion.
EPA Extends Comment Period On REGS Rule And RFS Point Of Obligation Petitions
By National Law Review.
Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published two announcements in the Federal Register regarding an extension of the comment period for the proposed Renewables Enhancement and Growth Support (REGS) rule and the proposed denial of petitions for the rulemaking to change the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Point of Obligation.
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