“Landfill Emissions: Going to the dump? You might make electricity,” Kavya Balaraman, E&E Reporter

Reprinted from ClimateWire with permission from E&E Publishing, LLC. Copyright 2016. 

The science behind a gas collection system is fairly straightforward. For smaller landfill facilities, the amount of capital needed for this can be overwhelming. According to Sullivan, a system could easily cost a few million dollars to set up and $100,000 a year to maintain and operate.

“These aren’t the kind of systems that you install once and they continue operating on their own for 25 years,” Sullivan said. “Landfills are living, breathing beasts, and as waste settles, it can have an effect on equipment. Moreover, the equipment is exposed to the elements, like wind, rain, snow and sleet. The systems require constant maintaining and monitoring, and the new regulations have requirements of technicians on site, as well.”

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