Seacoast NRG

The University of New Hampshire (UNH) recently announced that it will switch the main fuel source for its co-generation plant to methane gas supplied from a nearby landfill.  The methane, a byproduct of the decomposing garbage in the landfill, will be pumped to the co-generation plant via a 12.7 mile long pipeline.  There it will be processed and refined prior to being burned to generate electricity and heat for the university.  UNH will meet up to 85% of its energy needs from the landfill’s methane.  Currently in the planning stages, the UNH project, believed to be one of the largest of its kind in the country, will cost an estimated $33 million.  Construction is scheduled to start in the spring of 2007, and processing of methane at the new plant should begin in December, 2007. 

In addition to reducing UNH’s energy demand from other, more common fuel sources, such as oil, coal and conventional natural gas, using landfill-sourced methane has several direct environmental benefits: 

• Landfill-sourced methane is, in theory, renewable, since the methane creation process will continue during and long after the active life of the landfill. 
• Landfills are known to be large generators of methane.   According to the EPA, landfills account for 34% of all anthropogenic methane emissions in the US.  Methane is also a greenhouse gas, one that is roughly 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide.  Using landfill-sourced methane as an energy source thus reduces the amount of methane that the landfill will potentially release to the atmosphere.
• Methane does produce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases when burned.  However, methane is relatively clean, in that it has a low carbon intensity.  That is, methane fuel produces more energy per unit of carbon emissions than any other fossil fuel.

Resources:

US EPA methane information site

Methane to Markets