Gulf Power’s landfill gas-to-energy facility is now up and running at the county's Perdido Landfill, producing 3,200 kilowatts — enough renewable energy to power more than 900 homes.
It’s the first renewable energy generation facility owned and operated by Gulf Power or its parent Southern Company.
The partnership between Gulf Power and Escambia County was launched officially in February, when Gulf Power broke ground on its $5.3-million facility.
Continue Reading
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Wisconsin Governor Doyle Announces $550,000 For Montchevre Cheese Anaerobic Digester
Governor Jim Doyle today announced a $550,000 loan for Betin Incorporated from the State Energy Program (SEP). Department of Commerce Secretary Aaron Olver and Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Secretary Randy Romanski made the announcement today in Belmont on behalf of the Governor.
“In Wisconsin, we are taking the lead to not only address environmental challenges, but also to find opportunities for innovation and growth,” Governor Doyle said. “I’m pleased that we could help Betin, Inc. install technology to use renewable energy and cut costs.”
“We are grateful to operate in a state where our Governor and Department of Commerce recognize the need to encourage and support private projects like ours that build environmentally-sound solutions to manufacturing,” said company President Arnaud Solandt. “The loan will allow us to expand further and create new jobs within the community.”
The SEP loan is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Betin, Inc. is one of the nation’s largest goat-cheese manufacturers using the trade name Montchevre. It will install an anaerobic digester to process whey and waste water. The resulting methane will be used to help meet up to 80 percent of the company’s energy needs. The project will create 13 jobs and represent total investment of $3.5 million.
Source Press Release
“In Wisconsin, we are taking the lead to not only address environmental challenges, but also to find opportunities for innovation and growth,” Governor Doyle said. “I’m pleased that we could help Betin, Inc. install technology to use renewable energy and cut costs.”
“We are grateful to operate in a state where our Governor and Department of Commerce recognize the need to encourage and support private projects like ours that build environmentally-sound solutions to manufacturing,” said company President Arnaud Solandt. “The loan will allow us to expand further and create new jobs within the community.”
The SEP loan is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Betin, Inc. is one of the nation’s largest goat-cheese manufacturers using the trade name Montchevre. It will install an anaerobic digester to process whey and waste water. The resulting methane will be used to help meet up to 80 percent of the company’s energy needs. The project will create 13 jobs and represent total investment of $3.5 million.
Source Press Release
Friday, October 8, 2010
USDA Officials Tour Vermont Dairy Farm's Anaerobic Digester
A team of USDA officials today visited a North Troy dairy farm that is using an innovative technology to convert farm waste products, such as manure, into electricity. The project was funded with assistance from USDA.
"Anaerobic digesters like the one here at Chaput Family Farms will benefit our environment as well as America's dairy farmers, who can profit from the production and sale of this renewable energy source," said Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist Vicky Drew. "In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the collection of methane, the digester will also reduce energy needed to produce and haul bedding to the farm by recycling the manure onsite into a dry bedding material for the cows, creating a closed-loop system."
USDA Rural Development Vermont State Director Molly Lambert added, "Expanding the nation's renewable energy sources is a priority of the Obama Administration and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and is consistent with a Memorandum of Understanding the United States signed in Copenhagen last December to work together with dairy producers to reduce greenhouse emissions by 25 percent by 2020." She was joined on the tour by Rural Business-Cooperative Service Administrator Judith Canales and Farm Service Agency State Executive Director Robert Paquin.
The 300 kilowatt anaerobic digester system that the USDA officials toured at Chaput Family Farms will digest manure from a dairy herd, produce biogas and combust the gas to generate renewable energy on a continuous basis, and provide digester effluent for use as crop fertilizer and for cow bedding material. USDA Rural Development helped finance the digester with a loan and grant through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), authorized through the 2008 Farm Bill.
"This project highlights the way USDA agencies are working together to help rural farmers and businesses," Canales said. "Supporting our farmers in projects like this is good for them, good for the environment, and good for businesses and residents throughout the community."
Chaput's digester is the first to go online through Vermont's Standard Offer Program. The state will pay the farm a fixed price of 16 cents per kilowatt hour for the next 20 years. In addition, the farm will receive a renewable energy credit of 4 cents per kWh for the next five years through Central Vermont Power Service's "Cow Power Program."
The farm will produce all of its on-farm electricity, heat, hot water and bedding for the cows. It will sell the excess power to the local utility. The excess bedding will be sold to local farms.
Source : Press Release
See Also :
Producing Electricity From Cow Power
"Anaerobic digesters like the one here at Chaput Family Farms will benefit our environment as well as America's dairy farmers, who can profit from the production and sale of this renewable energy source," said Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist Vicky Drew. "In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the collection of methane, the digester will also reduce energy needed to produce and haul bedding to the farm by recycling the manure onsite into a dry bedding material for the cows, creating a closed-loop system."
USDA Rural Development Vermont State Director Molly Lambert added, "Expanding the nation's renewable energy sources is a priority of the Obama Administration and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and is consistent with a Memorandum of Understanding the United States signed in Copenhagen last December to work together with dairy producers to reduce greenhouse emissions by 25 percent by 2020." She was joined on the tour by Rural Business-Cooperative Service Administrator Judith Canales and Farm Service Agency State Executive Director Robert Paquin.
The 300 kilowatt anaerobic digester system that the USDA officials toured at Chaput Family Farms will digest manure from a dairy herd, produce biogas and combust the gas to generate renewable energy on a continuous basis, and provide digester effluent for use as crop fertilizer and for cow bedding material. USDA Rural Development helped finance the digester with a loan and grant through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), authorized through the 2008 Farm Bill.
"This project highlights the way USDA agencies are working together to help rural farmers and businesses," Canales said. "Supporting our farmers in projects like this is good for them, good for the environment, and good for businesses and residents throughout the community."
Chaput's digester is the first to go online through Vermont's Standard Offer Program. The state will pay the farm a fixed price of 16 cents per kilowatt hour for the next 20 years. In addition, the farm will receive a renewable energy credit of 4 cents per kWh for the next five years through Central Vermont Power Service's "Cow Power Program."
The farm will produce all of its on-farm electricity, heat, hot water and bedding for the cows. It will sell the excess power to the local utility. The excess bedding will be sold to local farms.
Source : Press Release
See Also :
Producing Electricity From Cow Power
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Using Landfill Gas to Recycle Glass and Provide Energy to the Metropolitan Detention Center
To reduce the use of fossil fuels and the resultant greenhouse gas emissions, the city of Albuquerque, NM will use methane gas from its main landfill, currently flared, for two end uses. First, the gas will be used to fire a new kiln at a glass recycling facility, which already makes use of the glass collected through the city's recycling program. Second, the gas will be piped to the county's detention facility to fire the facility's heating and hot water boilers. In conjunction with this work, the city will conduct a public education campaign about renewable energy technologies.
The City of Albuquerque has partnered with Growstone to recycle the glass collected through the City's recycling program. Growstone crushes the received glass into a powder to make an agricultural soil amendment product that conserves water. The company has already located their facility at the city's Cerro Colorado Landfill, but it currently sends the glass powder to another facility for finishing. In partnership with the city, Growstone will build a finishing kiln at the Cerro Colorado site. The city's project will install and operate a gas control and collection system (GCCS) at the landfill, and a portion of the collected gas will be used to fire Growstone's kiln.
The project will also build a gas line from the GCCS to the nearby Metropolitan Detention Center. The center's six boilers will be switched over to use landfill gas, starting with three of the boilers and then firing more as the landfill expands.
The city will also develop a public education strategy, targeting the general public, green entrepreneurs, and governmental agencies. The emphasis will be on renewable energy, green technologies, public empowerment, and sustainability in public-private partnerships.
The project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by replacing the fossil fuels used at the detention facility and using a renewable fuel source for the kiln. The glass recycling facility will demonstrate the viability of a green business model, and it will create 12 green manufacturing jobs. The project will create a model for public-private partnership that can be replicated at other landfill sites.
Source : EPA
The City of Albuquerque has partnered with Growstone to recycle the glass collected through the City's recycling program. Growstone crushes the received glass into a powder to make an agricultural soil amendment product that conserves water. The company has already located their facility at the city's Cerro Colorado Landfill, but it currently sends the glass powder to another facility for finishing. In partnership with the city, Growstone will build a finishing kiln at the Cerro Colorado site. The city's project will install and operate a gas control and collection system (GCCS) at the landfill, and a portion of the collected gas will be used to fire Growstone's kiln.
The project will also build a gas line from the GCCS to the nearby Metropolitan Detention Center. The center's six boilers will be switched over to use landfill gas, starting with three of the boilers and then firing more as the landfill expands.
The city will also develop a public education strategy, targeting the general public, green entrepreneurs, and governmental agencies. The emphasis will be on renewable energy, green technologies, public empowerment, and sustainability in public-private partnerships.
The project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by replacing the fossil fuels used at the detention facility and using a renewable fuel source for the kiln. The glass recycling facility will demonstrate the viability of a green business model, and it will create 12 green manufacturing jobs. The project will create a model for public-private partnership that can be replicated at other landfill sites.
Source : EPA
Saturday, October 2, 2010
EPA Helps Launch Global Methane Initiative to Cut Greenhouse Gases
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Mexico’s Ministry of Environment along with thirty-six other countries, the European Commission, the Asian Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank launched a new Global Methane Initiative that urges stronger international action to address near-term climate change. The initiative expands on existing global efforts to reduce emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, while providing significant clean energy, human health, environmental and economic benefits. EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, Gina McCarthy, represented the agency at the meetings that took place September 30 and October 1 in Mexico City.
“Methane emissions pollute the air we breathe and contribute to the global challenge of climate change, and leaving them untapped is a major missed opportunity. Through this growing partnership we can convert this harmful pollutant into clean energy and create new economic prospects for people around the world,” EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said. “I’m looking forward to working with our global partners to reduce pollution, strengthen clean energy innovations, and make our planet healthier, stronger and more prosperous for future generations.”
The United States is pledging $50 million over the next five years to the Global Methane Initiative and is seeking similar pledges from other developed countries, to support implementing methane emissions reduction projects and technologies. EPA estimates that an enhanced global effort to reduce methane emissions could achieve reductions of more than 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent – about the same as the annual emissions from more than 280 million cars.
The initiative will build on the existing structure and success of the Methane to Markets Partnership, an international partnership launched in 2004, while enhancing and expanding its efforts and encouraging new financial commitments from developed country partners. All the representatives at the meeting affirmed that the work of the initiative will continue to ensure international cooperation in a manner that is supportive of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Methane to Markets Partnership is one of the most effective international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, growing from 14 to 38 country partners, representing approximately 70 percent of global methane emissions today. More than 1,000 public and private sector organizations are members of the project network and have helped the program to leverage nearly $480 million in investment from private companies and financial institutions.
Source :Press Release
“Methane emissions pollute the air we breathe and contribute to the global challenge of climate change, and leaving them untapped is a major missed opportunity. Through this growing partnership we can convert this harmful pollutant into clean energy and create new economic prospects for people around the world,” EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said. “I’m looking forward to working with our global partners to reduce pollution, strengthen clean energy innovations, and make our planet healthier, stronger and more prosperous for future generations.”
The United States is pledging $50 million over the next five years to the Global Methane Initiative and is seeking similar pledges from other developed countries, to support implementing methane emissions reduction projects and technologies. EPA estimates that an enhanced global effort to reduce methane emissions could achieve reductions of more than 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent – about the same as the annual emissions from more than 280 million cars.
The initiative will build on the existing structure and success of the Methane to Markets Partnership, an international partnership launched in 2004, while enhancing and expanding its efforts and encouraging new financial commitments from developed country partners. All the representatives at the meeting affirmed that the work of the initiative will continue to ensure international cooperation in a manner that is supportive of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Methane to Markets Partnership is one of the most effective international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, growing from 14 to 38 country partners, representing approximately 70 percent of global methane emissions today. More than 1,000 public and private sector organizations are members of the project network and have helped the program to leverage nearly $480 million in investment from private companies and financial institutions.
Source :Press Release