April 13, 2013

Renewable Natural Gas From Landfill Powers Refuse Vehicles (Text Version)

This is a text version of the video segment Renewable Natural Gas From Landfill Powers Refuse Vehicles, which aired on April 13, 2013.

JOHN DAVIS: Our success story this week chronicles Waste Management's Altamont Landfill in Livermore, California. In the late 1980s, it became a waste-to-wheels pioneer by using landfill methane gas to power turbines to generate electricity—enough to run 8,000 area homes and a liquefied natural gas plant.

That plant now provides renewable natural gas for some 300 refuse vehicles. An elaborate network of wellheads captures the landfill gas emitted from the nearly 3,500 tons of waste received every day.

TIANNA NOUROT: It's an engineered system that we have a lot of checks and balances in place to make sure that we're doing it in an environmentally friendly and sound way.

JOHN DAVIS: The East Bay Clean Cities coalition helped Waste Management secure funding to add a CNG fueling station to their existing LNG station. Converting landfill gas into clean energy shows that nothing goes to waste for the residents of northern California.

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