Let us not forget that NOx is also
produced as landfill gas is flared or combusted for energy recovery. The level
of NOx production will vary with temp. and the technology used. I also found
the phrase “But landfill sites are quite well run these days and it
is possible to extract about half the gas they generate and use it for
electricity generation” quite interesting as well.
JOE
Joseph Van
Rossum
Recycling
Specialist
UW-Extension - Solid & Hazardous Waste Education Center
610 Langdon Street, Room 533
Madison WI 53703
phone
608-262-0936
www.uwex.edu/shwec
"I left
Earth three times. I found no place else to go. Please take care of Spaceship
Earth." - Wally Schirra Jr.
From:
GreenYes@no.address [mailto:GreenYes@no.address] On Behalf Of Reindl, John
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2007 2:00 PM
To: David Biddle
Cc: GreenYes@no.address
Subject: [GreenYes] RE: GHG and
compost worms:
My main work task these days is trying to help our local
livestock farmers (mostly dairy) improve the management of manure. Our focus is
on phosphorus reduction, and have found a number of management techniques
result in increased nitrous oxide formation from the manure, with the
associated GHG implications.
PS ~ The amount of manure per cow is huge, and the quantity
of manure produced in my county swamps the amount of solid waste produced. It's
a fascinating situation, and hopefully, we can find a way to reduce phosphorus
loadings to the soil, while being able to beneficially reuse the nitrogen,
organic material, trace nutrients and water.
-----Original Message-----
From: GreenYes@no.address
[mailto:GreenYes@no.address]On Behalf
Of David Biddle
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2007 1:51
PM
To: eroyte;
GreenYes@no.address
Subject: [GreenYes] Re: GHG and
compost worms: Any thoughts, anyone?
Interesting, indeed. This info
got a lot of play all over. Just Google it.
For what it’s worth, synthetic fertilizer, as I understand it (and I am
by no means a soil scientist or even an organics expert), is also a significant
source of nitrous oxide. Not sure of the comparison between synthetic and
natural, nor especially the lifecycle issues, but in thinking this problem
through, one clear thing to keep in mind is the fact that soil needs nitrogen.
What are the differences between naturally occurring nitrogen and synthetic?
One fascinating thing is that it seems pretty clear this issue has not gotten
enough research and attention vis-à-vis GHGs.
See the web pages below:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2003/07/20/2003060195
http://www.ghgonline.org/nitrousagri.htm
http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/TG/AG/fertapp.html
http://www.stanford.edu/group/i-rite/statements/2001/harrison.html
db
on 7/16/07 1:53 PM, eroyte at e@no.address wrote:
This article appeared in the Telegraph (UK)
Wormeries 'may add to greenhouse gases'
By Charles Clover, Environment Editor
Last Updated: 6:01pm BST 06/07/2007
Worms may not be as environmentally friendly as the growing
number of
gardeners who use them to help compost their
kitchen scraps and grass
clippings believe, say scientists.
In fact, the greenhouse gases emitted by a large
commercial worm composting
plant may be comparable to the global warming
potential of a landfill site
of the same scale, according to the Open
University.
This is because worms used in composting emit
nitrous oxide - a greenhouse
gas 296 times more powerful, molecule for
molecule, than carbon dioxide.
Landfill sites produce methane which is 23 times
more powerful a greenhouse
gas than carbon dioxide.
Jim Frederickson, senior research fellow at the
Open University's
faculty of
technology, said: "We know from research in Germany that a
third of the
nitrous oxide emissions coming from the soil are
associated with worms.
"What we found from looking at large worm
composting systems is that their
emissions could be comparable in global warming
potential to the methane
from landfill sites."
The Government has said it wants to increase the
amount of waste that is
composted to 40 per cent by 2010 and 45 per cent
by 2015 - which is likely
to involve more commercial scale worm composting
plants.
Red worms appear naturally in country compost
heaps but over the past
decade
or so a thriving trade has grown up in domestic
wormeries which enable
people with space as limited as a balcony to
compost their kitchen waste.
Domestic wormeries are dustbin-sized boxes formed
from several trays, with
names such as Can-O-Worms, into which reared worms
are introduced. Some are
even made to look like beehives.
The worms are laid out on lime and vegetable
peelings. When they have
digested this material they move to another level
in search of more food.
The lower trays of compost can be used and a tap
allows the liquid
collected
to be drained off as fertiliser.
The red worms used in composting are extremely
efficient at breaking down
decomposing material such as kitchen scraps and
other organic material but
they emit nitrous oxide in the process of
digestion in the gut.
Mr Frederickson told Materials Recycling Week
said: "Everybody loves worms
because they think they can do no harm but they
contribute to global
warming.
"The amount of worm composting is very, very
small and the amount of
landfill is huge. But landfill sites are quite
well run these days and
it is
possible to extract about half the gas they
generate and use it for
electricity generation.
"So the amount of nitrous oxide emitted by
large scale worm composting is
something we should be looking at before we go
further down that route."
Mr Frederickson said that the research he and his
colleagues had done
was on
very large commercial worm composting
"beds" which build up large
amounts of
nitrogen which is then emitted by the worms as
gas.
It is unclear whether the same process goes on to
the same extent in
domestic worm composting bins, but Mr Frederickson
said: "We are clear they
will be producing nitrous oxide but maybe not to
the same extent. They may
be more stable.
"Worm composting bins and compost heaps
produce really good compost in a
decentralised way with no transport to landfill
sites - which is a good
thing.
"But we must remember if we are evaluating
this method against other
ways of
getting rid of wastes, such as landfill and
incineration, that worm
composting can also be a source of greenhouse gas
emissions."
--
David Biddle, Executive Director
<http://www.blueolives.blogspot.com>
Greater Philadelphia
Commercial Recycling Council
P.O. Box 4037
Philadelphia, PA 19118
215-247-3090 (desk)
215-432-8225 (cell)
<http://www.gpcrc.com>
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