By Susan Kraemer •
October 17, 2009
Some of the landfill gas at McCarty Road Landfill in Texas was captured for sale to a local utility, but the rest was just getting flared. Now, though, Ameresco Services captures that excess and sends it four miles through an underground pipeline to Anheuser-Busch brewery to meet their goal of getting 15 percent of their needs by 2010 promised a few years ago.
How much business is there to be made in capturing and using waste energy? Well, the company that developed the energy recycling waste-to-power system that helps fuel the biopower plant at the brewery has got to be one of the few companies in this economy to enjoy 47% growth over the last 5 years!
By Tina Casey •
August 4, 2009
Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc., which has already made a name for itself by partnering in a Hawaii program that recycles old fishing nets for energy, is at it again. The company has joined in the Fishing for Energy partnership with Covanta Energy, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the NOAA Marine Debris Program. Together, they will collect old or abandoned fishing nets and other gear at the Oregon coastal ports of Garibaldi and Newport, and send it to Covanta’s waste-to-energy plant. The goal: to help prevent oceanborne derelict fishing gear from harming marine life, and to start making a dent in the notorious Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
By G. Riley Meyers •
November 13, 2008
Notorious for producing the greenhouse gas, methane, and then having to flare it off to avoid the potential danger of explosions, landfills are now converting this gas to electricity that can be fed to the grid.
This September, the Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site, known as DADS, brought its waste-to-energy capabilities online, powering four V-16 Caterpillar engines that generate and sell electricity to utilities company, Xcel Energy.
By Ariel Schwartz •
September 18, 2008
Add Kraft to the growing list of companies that turn waste into energy. Two of the company’s New York cheese plants plan to turn used whey into biogas—enough to provide energy to 2,600 homes. Previously, Kraft relied on other methods to get rid of its waste.
By Carol Gulyas •
July 2, 2008
Renewable Energy World reports that Ecovation will create energy from distillery waste at the Maker’s Mark distillery in Kentucky. Ecovation, acquired by Ecolab in February, specializes in generating green energy from organic wastes created by distilleries and wineries, and other businesses using organic inputs, from paper mills to cheesemakers. Their website is full of cheese-related puns, as in The Whey to Renewable Energy.” To quote [...]
