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~% G4~G/ZG/ <br />J <br />A bulldozer moves waste in <br />the active cell of the Five <br />Oaks Disposal facility in <br />~~~~~ ~~~ <br />~ ~. r ~~~ <br />~: ` ~~#, <br />"" <br />~- ~ ~ ._; M <br />r~. ~' <br />~~ ~~~ <br />from ~~I <br />.~/ <br />.~ <br />~ ~ <br />~_ l <br />~,E _, ,. :. _. <br />Dan Erni, environmental engineer at the <br />facility, shows some of the piping that <br />carries landfill gas to the compression <br />Traditional energy sources such as fossil <br />fuels are becoming less available and harder <br />to secure given the current state of world <br />affairs. Even though prices have risen, <br />demand remains high for these products, <br />causing much to be said about developing <br />renewable energy from products such as <br />wind, water, solar power, and garbage. <br />Garbage? <br />Waste Management, Inc. operates nearly <br />300 landfill sites across North America. <br />Seventy of them are waste-to-energy sites, <br />including the Five Oaks Disposal facility <br />near Taylorville, Ill. These locations use <br />technology developed by Waste <br />Management's Renewable Energy <br />department to capture landfill gases, <br />including methane which has been linked to <br />global warming, and turn them into <br />renewable energy. <br />The average American produces 4.4 <br />pounds of garbage each day, most of which <br />is organic in nature. When waste is taken to <br />a landfill, over time it begins to decompose. <br />During this process, anaerobic bacteria - <br />organisms that survive in the absence of <br />oxygen -give off landfill gases that are <br />.approximately 50 percent carbon dioxide <br />and 50 percent methane, according to Car] <br />Niemann, sales manager/business <br />development at the Taylorville facility. <br />"Typically, the landfill gas would be <br />destroyed by a flare system," he said. At the <br />One of four Caterpillar 16- <br />cylinder engines that generate <br />enough electricity to power 2,500 <br />Five Oaks Disposal facility, we have the . <br />technology to capture that gas and turn it <br />into electricity, which in turn creates enough <br />power for approximately 2,500 homes, about <br />3.2 megawatts" <br />A series of wells and pipes are in place <br />throughout the active landfill site. A vacuum <br />system captures the gas and sends it to fuel <br />four. Caterpillar 16-cylinder engines that in <br />turn power generators, creating electricity. <br />The facility was completed and brought on <br />line in February 2008, and current gas <br />production is 1,200 cubic feet per minute, <br />said Dan Erni, environmental engineer. <br />"That number is expected to grow," he <br />added. "We have 30 more years' capacity at <br />this location, and the landfill gas will <br />continue to be produced for several decades <br />after the landfill is closed." <br />The gas does not require any special <br />conditioning and the engines run 24 hours a <br />day, seven days a week about 98 percent of <br />the time. The electricity they produce goes <br />directly into the local power grid. <br />The facility handles not only local waste, <br />but waste from the nearby city of <br />Springfield, Illinois' capitol. There are <br />approximately five pieces of heavy <br />equipment used to move the 800-1,000 tons <br />of garbage collected each day at the active <br />landfill site, called the cell, as well as a fleet <br />of more than 40 collection and transfer <br />trucks. Christian County Farmers Supply <br />