Domestic Fuel

Waste Management continues to build its reputation in the development of alternative energy with the announcement that they have partnered with Harvest Power to expand next generation organics recycling facilities across the United States and Canada. Waste Management now joins founding investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Munich Venture Partners, as investors in the project.

The largest food and yard waste composting facility in North America, located in Richmond, British Columbia, is owned and operated by Harvest Power. In addition to building and operating large-scale organics recycling facilities, the company is also developing several high-solids aerobic and anaerobic digestion and composting technologies which will accelerate the decomposition of organic materials to produce renewable energy or biogas. Once the biogas is formed, it can be converted into electricity, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and into high quality, nutrient-rich compost products.

In a release today, Tim Cesarek, Managing Director of Organic Growth at Waste Management said, “We want to extract more value from the materials we manage than anyone else in our industry through new and emerging processing and conversion technologies. Combining Waste Management’s industry leadership and expertise in the collection and management of a wide range of segmented waste streams with Harvest’s leading technologies and industry knowledge will be key to developing new, higher value added end markets for organic materials and accelerating the growth of organics recycling across North America.”

North America generates over 180 million tons of organic waste each year and is a valuable resource for the production of renewable energy.

“Through partnerships with leaders like Waste Management, and by designing, building, owning and operating our own facilities, we will be turning more organic waste into renewable energy and high quality compost,” added Paul Sellew, Co-Founder and CEO of Harvest Power. “Our goal is to harvest the power in organic materials to create more sustainable communities, and we look forward to expanding our business with our new partner.”

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized Waste Management, Inc. for its innovation and creativity in the development of the Altamont Landfill Gas to Liquefied Natural Gas Facility that went online in Livermore, CA in late 2009. The award was presented during the EPA’s 13th annual Landfill Methane Outreach Program Conference and Project Expo.

The project is a joint venture with Linde North America, which is part of The Linde Group. According to Waste Management, the Altamont facility is the largest landfill gas (LFG) to liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in operation in the world and produces 13,000 gallons of LNG per day. This is enough renewable fuel for Waste Management to operate 300 out of its 485 LNG waste and recycling collection vehicles in 20 communities in California.

“The Altamont LFG-to-LNG facility enables us to recover and utilize a valuable source of clean energy in another practical way, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Conventional LNG is already a clean-burning and economically viable alternative fuel for our collection trucks,” said Paul Pabor, vice president for Waste Management’s Renewable Energy Group. “The ability to use recovered landfill gas to fuel our hauling fleet offers significant environmental benefits to the communities we serve in California and is a great example of how we are committed to recovering resources in waste.”

The EPA also recognized another Waste Management project – University of New Hampshire’s EcoLine Project which converts landfill gas into enough energy to meet 85 percent of the five million square-foot campus’ and heating needs.

Linde North America, a member of The Linde Group, which is one of the world’s largest hydrogen energy producers, will be showcasing two of its green fueling options to California residents during the San Francisco International Auto Show, which opens on Thanksgiving day.

The first featured project highlights refuse trucks that are running on natural gas. The fuel is produced at a plant in Linde built in Livermore, and is in partnership with Waste Management. The plant captures gases from landfill garbage and coverts them to liquefied natural gas. The second project of note is with the San Francisco International Airport. Beginning in 2010, the airport will begin running a fleet of shuttle buses as well as fuel cell vehicles and Linde is building a hydrogen fueling station to meet these needs.

“Filling up the tank in California has gotten cleaner and greener in recent months,” said Mike Beckman, Linde’s Vice President, Alternative Energy. “Linde believes alternative energy technologies such as hydrogen and biogas will clean our environment, boost energy diversity, and spur economic growth. But we need to make it easy for average citizens to take advantage of these alternative fuels.”

People who attend the auto show can visit the company’s booth #1083 to learn more about both of these projects.

Using landfill gas to produce energy is real! Waste Management, in conjunction with Linde North America, has begun to produce renewable vehicle fuel at its Altamont Landfill near Livermore, California. The facility is the world’s largest landfill gas (LFG) to liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.

The plant which was built and is operated by Linde, purifies and liquefies landfill gas that Waste Management, the largest services waste company, collects from the natural decomposition of organic waste in the landfill. The plant was built to produce up to 13,000 gallons of LNG per day. This is enough to fuel 300 of Waste Management’s 485 LNG waste and recycling collection vehicles in twenty California communities. Since the plant went online in September, it has produced 200,000 gallons of LNG.

Duane Woods, senior vice president for Waste Management’s Western Group said in a company press statement, “The Altamont LFG-to-LNG facility enables us to recover and utilize a valuable source of clean energy in another practical way, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Conventional LNG is already a clean-burning and economically viable alternative fuel for our collection trucks. The ability to use recovered landfill gas to fuel our hauling fleet offers significant environmental benefits to the communities we serve in California and is a great example of how we are committed to recovering resources in waste.”

The Altamont LFG-to-LNG facility meets two of California Governor Schwarzenegger’s environmental directives: the Bioenergy Action Plan, which seeks to advance the use and market development of biomass as a transportation fuel, and Executive Order S-3-05, which aims to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020.

“Linde is proud to create a clean and green energy solution for residents of California. Landfill-gas-derived LNG is a super ultra-low carbon fuel, as designated by the Air Resources Board and the Altamont project is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 30,000 tons a year,” concluded Pat Murphy, president of Linde North America.