ERMUSR MISC 08-14-2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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~,~~~,~ L, - ~~~{ y' - y." - 1'~t...~. ,. PhotosbyGLENSTUBBE•-gstubbe@startribiute.com Fifty methane wells scattered around the Ells River Sanitary Landfill provide enough fuel to power four 800-kilowatt generators that supply 2,300 E1kRiver Homes with electricity, l5 percent of the city's needs. Waste Management Inc. is buildurg a similar renewable energy project at the Spruce Ridge landfill irl McLeod County. • The waste-to-energy process is a long one at landfills, but Waste Management sees value in converting its sites into methane producers. Elk River already benefits from the power, and within a year so will Glencoe. ..TSYE-•'id.911iA'Mt;.-.•~-T~L-~-.r,-•i••.i'7~~"rTA fiy MIKE 1'vtEYF'1.5 • rneycrs(a)s[artribune.corn ext year, when the lights go on in lencoe, residents can thank or- ange peels, rotten broccoli and left- over lasagna that was thrown out years ago for some of the electricity that keeps their houses glowing. Waste Management Inc., heedirig the proverb that one person's trash is another person's treasure, is spending $3.5 million to eke holes and run pipes to help the Spruce _.idge landfill expel gases that soon will run three electrical generators. The project is part of a x350 million in- vestment to be made by Waste Management over the next five ye~rrs to turn GO landfills across the country into sites for creating re- newableenergy. "We need to get the highest value out of that land. Part of that is using it as an energy resource," said Paul Pabor, vice president of renewable energy at Houston-based Waste Management. When the Spruce Ridge transformation is complete next year, fire methane burp- ing from years of discarded garba;e will provide enough electricity to power 2,400 homes. 'The electricity will be sold to cus- tomers of Glencoe Light and Power: Waste Management, the nation's largest landfill operator, begztn experimenting with gas-to-electric generalx>rs 20 years ago. When the cornpany completes its expan- sion into that busing>s five ;-ears from now, it will produce enough electricity to power 700,000 homes, the equivalent of replacing more thzin 8 million barrels of oil a year. Trash coxrtsrruws on 7a4 > r e, S_: ~~~:1~ Debra Walters, Waste Management's district manager, and Don Yurecko, the gas plant manager, in the generator room where gases hom the Elk River Sanitary Landfill aze converted into electrical power. I2S l~_°° I "' lYl iC1VE'rll`/'-1i3~ < . llllua aaa ya Va,v c ~~ ~-., wauac-a.vaawa acaaraw ~.+.a.