Solid Waste Dept Considers Renewable Energy Technology

Deschutes County Oregon -- 8/3/2011 --

Deschutes County is considering installing state of the art renewable energy technology at Knott Landfill that would extract solid waste generated greenhouse gas and convert those gases into marketable bio‐fuel products. Public feedback and information meetings about the opportunity and greenhouse gas process will take place in August.

As waste decomposes at Knott Landfill, methane gas is generated, controlled and burned-off in an effort to reduce emissions into the air. Historically, revenue generating options requiring higher levels of gas generation have not been possible due to the lack of technology, the region’s arid climate and slow waste decomposition rates. Proposed technology provided by the Waste to Energy Group makes a project at Knott Landfill environmentally sound and financially viable.

The proposed greenhouse gas process would capture methane and prevent the need to combust it, resulting in significant gas emission reductions and air quality improvement.

Benefits of the greenhouse gas conversion process include:

1. No cost to the County to launch or continue the project into the future.
2. The Solid Waste Department will receive revenue for landfill gas rights, used to keep tipping fees down at County solid waste disposal sites.
3. Eight to twelve permanent family-wage jobs and a dozen temporary jobs would be created if the project were to be approved by the Board of County Commissioners.
4. The waste-to-gas technology meets all air-quality standards. There is no incineration or burning of any kind.

As soon as a schedule is created, public input and information meetings in August will be posted at www.deschutes.org .

For more information about the proposed waste-to-gas technology or to learn about Deschutes County Department of Solid Waste landfill processes, please visit www.deschutes.org/solidwaste or call (541) 317-3163.

For more information about the Waste to Energy Group, please visit www.wastetoenergygroup.com .