Oct 30, 2007
Gas plan to collect benefits
Veronica Rhodes, The Leader-Post
The ribbon has been cut on the City of Regina's new landfill gas
collection system, which will have the Queen City reaping environmental
and financial rewards.
"Landfill gas makes up about a quarter of the greenhouse gases that are
produced from direct human sources in Canada. So it is a significant
environmental initiative and issue for us to be dealing with," said
Derrick Bellows, the city's acting general manager of sewer, water and
waste management, at the Monday morning media conference.
Landfill gas is a result of the degradation of organic waste, such as
grass clippings or food waste. The gas is made up of about 50 per cent
carbon dioxide and 50 per cent methane, which is a potent greenhouse
gas.
The new system will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by transforming
methane to carbon dioxide through flaring, which may in turn be used as
an energy source.
The city has a partnership with the Solar Hydrogen Energy Corporation
(SHEC) through which the Saskatoon-based company will purchase the
collected gas and transform it into solar hydrogen energy. The process
is expected to begin in July 2008.
At the unveiling of the new facility located at the Fleet Street
landfill, Bellows explained that while many North American communities
have installed similar landfill gas systems, Regina is the first
community in Saskatchewan to do it.
The process starts with a series of underground wells under the landfill
surface that collect the generated gas, which is transferred through
piping to the landfill gas extraction plant using a low-powered vacuum,
said Bellows. At the plant, the gas is processed to remove condensation
before it is flared.
"The product of the flare is carbon dioxide which is a less-dangerous
greenhouse gas than methane is," said Bellows, adding this first phase
of the system will produce 500 cubic metres of gas per hour.
The new system cost $2.5 million and the city's revenues from the gas
sales to SHEC are estimated to be $50,000 to $70,000 annually.
"(This project) gives us immediate environmental benefit but in the
longer term, we're looking for some business and financial benefits and
that's the partnership we're embarking with SHEC on so we actually have
a product that has some value that we can sell and can be turned into
some other products that are much more useful in the longer term,"
explained Bellows.
The City of Regina will also collect greenhouse gas credits due to the
destruction of the methane gas. At a carbon credit value of up to $6
per ton, credit sales could generate $80,000 to $100,000 every
year.
Coun. Fred Clipsham explained new federal legislation allows
municipalities to sell such credits.
"The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has created a company where
they're going to pool the credits and take the credits in a larger
chunk to the marketplace and then pay back the municipalities," said
Clipsham.
Construction of the second phase of the city's plan, which will install
more wells for landfill gas collection, is expected to start in four to
five years.
Original article
