Turning Our Waste Into Fuel: On the Path to Sustainability

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Turning Our Waste Into Fuel: On the Path to Sustainability

Joanna D. Underwood, President, Energy Vision2012 GLICC Advancing the Choice ConferenceOctober 5, 2012

+OIL: Not a Fuel for the 21st CenturyThreatens Health, Environment and National Security

Health: Emissions of Soot, NOx and other Toxics pose significant health risks – respiratory, cardiovascular and more! (Diesel Fumes are now labeled a “known-carcinogen” by the World Health Organization)

Climate Change: 27% of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the U.S. National Security: 46% of our oil comes from OPEC countries

+OIL: Supply and Demand Dwindling Resources: 3 Countries (1/3 of all people on

earth) vie for Imports

Source: EIA

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4.0

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1982

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5

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1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

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+The World Population Crunch…… 202,000 more people per day

+ The Clean Fuels Revolution Has StartedThe 10 Million Trucks and Buses

4% of all road vehicles consuming 23% of road fuel!

Motorcycles7.1 million =

Passenger Cars135.9 million =

53.7%

Pickups, SUVs, Vans 101.5 million= 40.0%

Trucks & Buses9.9 million = 3.9%

+ Trucks & Buses Shifting To NaturalGas: Cleaner, Quieter & Cheaper Fuel Fleets, Communities & Drivers Love Them

+WHAT’S NEXT? RENEWABLE NATURAL GAS

Fossil Gas and RNG are chemically similar (CH4)

Use the same infrastructure (pipelines, compressors, refueling stations) & engine technology so can be blended

They can power the same vehicles! The major difference: RNG is “sustainable” 1) Renewable-

made from waste – NO DRILLING, 2) virtually free of soot emissions, and 3) close to zero carbon footprint

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The Pathway from Organic Waste to RNG

Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) How’s it made? From Organic Wastes

+ RNG: Vast Feedstocks: Urban & Rural

Landfills 1,750 Wastewater Treatment Plants 17,500 Dairies 8,000 and Farms Commercial Food Waste Residential Food & Yard Wastes

+RNG: The Closest to Zero Carbon Footprint TODAY

Derived from C.A. Resources Board LCFS, 2009.

0102030405060708090

100 94.7

72.8368

39.3328.53 26.31

15.84 13.45 11.26

Direct Greenhouse Gas Emissions (gCO2e/MJ): Diesel and Alternative Fuels

+RNG Vehicle Fuel: What’s Happening? Europe – Hundreds of Projects (Sweden, Denmark,

Norway, Finland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain…) U.S. – Only 9 Operational Projects: 6 Landfill, 1

Dairy, 1 Stand-Alone Digester & 1 WWTP The Technology to produce RNG Vehicle Fuel is

Commercial: whether refined from landfill gas or in anaerobic digesters.

+Fair Oaks Dairy (IN) Manure from 11,500 cows produces fuel (> 1.5 Million

gallons/years) to power 42 long-haul milk delivery trucks hauling 300,000 gallons of milk per day!

+Altamont Landfill (CA) Largest Facility to convert landfill gas to liquefied natural

gas (LNG) to fuel close to 400 WM refuse trucks, reducing carbon emissions by 30,000 tons per year

+Janesville Wastewater Plant (WI) The City of Janesville is upgrading digester gas to fuel 10-15 municipal light-duty CNG vehicles at an on-site refueling station

+City of Surrey (British Columbia) 2nd Largest City in BC (470,000 residents) Introduced closed-loop waste management plan:

1) Mandated Natural Gas Trucks 2) Collection of Source-Separated Organics 3) Build Anaerobic Digester 4) Produce RNG Vehicle Fuel for the refuse fleet.

By 2014: Wastestream cut by 75% (23% recycling; 51%; separated organics

+Project Economics: Many Site Specific Factors Extracting as from Landfill wastes? Organic wastes available to process in digesters? Need to transport the organics? Technology needed to refine the collected biogases? Finding the Fleets to purchase the fuel? Getting the fuel to the fleets? Type of refueling station built? Availability of economic incentives? Private capital?

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FOURTH LARGEST DAIRY HERD IN THE U.S.

$3 BILLION /yr FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRY 27 LARGE LANDFILLS 600 SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANTS

Communities can be the game changers:

Mandate use of “natural gas” trucks

Inventory rural, residential, and local business wastes

Assess costs and savings of conversion to fuel

Potential to become fuel producers/sellers

Support federal and state economic incentives

NY STATE: RIPE FOR “RNG” Clean Fuel –

Less Waste

+For more…….

Energy Vision 138 East 13 St, NY,NY

10003212 228-0225

Underwood@energy-vision.orgwww.energy-vision.orgTwitter: @Energy_Vision