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[GreenYes] more on landfill gas being a "renewable energy source"... but doesn't it run out?


Wow . I did not see this today before I sent my earlier email about
bioreactors and "green energy". but here in today's Rocky is more of the
same !!! Some of these quotes are amazing, such as:


*** "Not only is (the Lowry Landfill) operating very well in terms of
protecting human health and the environment, but now we're even finding a
new way to, I guess you could say, make lemonade from lemons," landfill
spokesman Drew Kramer said Monday. "

*** "There's a big push for renewable sources, and this is yet another form
of renewable energy," Kramer said, referring to the proposed plant. "


Eric







Rocky Mountain News

City plans to harvest energy from landfill gas

By Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News
February 13, 2007

The city of Denver wants to use landfill gases to generate electricity and
then sell it to a utility.

Plans call for the construction of a gas-to-energy plant that would burn
methane emitting from the Lowry Landfill and neighboring Denver Arapahoe
Disposal Site.

Xcel Energy is poised to buy the electricity, which would serve about 3,000
customers annually.

Texas-based Waste Management, which operates the city-owned landfills, would
build the plant under the proposal and share the profits with Denver.

Officials declined to provide financial information about the proposal
because negotiations are ongoing, but Denver City Council members are
scheduled to discuss it in committee today.

The proposed 3.2-megawatt plant, which would include four combustion engines
to produce the electricity, could be the first of its kind in Colorado.

"Not only is (the Lowry Landfill) operating very well in terms of protecting
human health and the environment, but now we're even finding a new way to, I
guess you could say, make lemonade from lemons," landfill spokesman Drew
Kramer said Monday.

Landfill gas now is collected at extraction wells and piped to a burner that
destroys methane and its organic compounds.

Construction of the plant is expected to begin this spring and be finished
by late summer. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Colorado
Department of Public Health and Environment have to approve the project
first, Kramer said.

"We haven't heard that there are going to be any holdups here," he said.

The project would help Xcel comply with Amendment 37, a statewide renewable
energy requirement that voters approved in 2004.

Voters "wanted us to look at all renewable resources, not just wind and
solar, and this contract with Waste Management will help us meet those
requirements," Xcel spokeswoman Ethnie Groves said.

The law requires utilities to get 10 percent of their electricity from
renewables by 2015.

Lawmakers intend to introduce a bill this session that would double the
requirement to 20 percent.

"There's a big push for renewable sources, and this is yet another form of
renewable energy," Kramer said, referring to the proposed plant.

Last month, Pitkin County commissioners decided to study whether methane
leaking from the county dump could be used to generate electricity, the
Associated Press reported.

Ellen Dumm, a spokeswoman for Denver's Environmental Health Department, said
that city employees suspected "many, many years ago" that methane would
someday be profitable. She singled out Ed Demos, a former environmental
services director.

Demos "was the visionary who was always seeing opportunities for the city
and (who was) in the forefront of trying to get them involved in
environmental issues," she said. "If Ed Demos were alive today, he'd be
really happy."

chacond@no.address or 303-954-5099

Copyright 2007, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.





Eric Lombardi

Executive Director/CEO

Eco-Cycle Inc

Boulder, CO. USA

303-444-6634

www.ecocycle.org




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