4 ms·

A city where a friend of mine lives harvests methane from a local dump and uses it to power ice rinks

throwaway48294 4y ago
The city I live in does something like this too! I thought it was pretty cool: https://www.wakegov.com/departments-government/waste-recycling/facilities/municipal-solid-waste-landfills/south-wake-landfill/landfill-gas-collection-and-control-system https://www.wakegov.com/departments-government/waste-recycli... > The Landfill Gas-to-Energy facility is currently producing ±8.5 Megawatts of continuous power. 8.5 Megawatts of electricity can power a minimum of 8,500 homes during peak demand and about 17,000 homes off peak.
aaron695 4y ago
onemoresoop 4y ago
Harvesting methane from landfills sounds like a good idea but is it feasible and scalable in other places?
- Melting_Harps 4y ago
  > Harvesting methane from landfills sounds like a good idea but is it feasible and scalable in other places? It is with the right incentive(s), moreover, many landfills in the US are forced to have to install caps that require a substantial investment on the landfill municipality, which simply don't have the funds to do so. Vespene just closed on a $4 million [0] round, and are set to have a working prototype in CA this year: the business model is actually really elegant use of GHG without the need to install incredibly expensive infrastructure to send the power to the grid and can in turn use the same model that miners who have recaptured the flares from remote Oil and Gas refiners and convert waste CH4 into C02, which is more stable GHG but can also be further recaptured once an auxiliary purpose is found--greenhouse prototypes have been a thing that many miners have experimented with and something like genetic research-grade hemp products could be the solution. When people on HN complain about how little is being done by tech to offset GHG and subsequent climate change [1] they should really just be looking at themselves and where they work, because as a staunch environmentalist I can't think of a single form of non-research based tech in renewables that has incentivized so many to invest and build recapturing systems via it's economic incentive--be it relocating miners to capture excess hydro in China, to now this. The model is based on incentives and inducements, which as we've seen in the 13 years is the only viable option, and we're now getting to a matured incentives model (after lots of failures) and as this scales we will reach an inducement model where it is the only sound strategy to offset landfill expenses, reduce damaging release of GHG, and comply with environmental standards that should have been in place all along, but are only possible now after the Climate Bill. Honestly, people here are so opposing of something they didn't get to reap wild benefits from and dismiss it entirely to their own detriment because if they really cared about what is discussed in the most recent heatwave thread they'd be capable of looking beyond their own biases and see a much more viable network to bring about effective solutions towards climate change. 0: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/08/09/a-renewable-energy-company-closes-43m-funding-to-convert-landfill-methane-into-bitcoin/ https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/08/09/a-renewable-ene... 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32396651 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32396651

The city I live in does something like this too! I thought it was pretty cool: https://www.wakegov.com/departments-government/waste-recycling/facilities/municipal-solid-waste-landfills/south-wake-landfill/landfill-gas-collection-and-control-system https://www.wakegov.com/departments-government/waste-recycli... > The Landfill Gas-to-Energy facility is currently producing ±8.5 Megawatts of continuous power. 8.5 Megawatts of electricity can power a minimum of 8,500 homes during peak demand and about 17,000 homes off peak.

aaron695 4y ago

onemoresoop 4y ago

Harvesting methane from landfills sounds like a good idea but is it feasible and scalable in other places?

Melting_Harps 4y ago
> Harvesting methane from landfills sounds like a good idea but is it feasible and scalable in other places? It is with the right incentive(s), moreover, many landfills in the US are forced to have to install caps that require a substantial investment on the landfill municipality, which simply don't have the funds to do so. Vespene just closed on a $4 million [0] round, and are set to have a working prototype in CA this year: the business model is actually really elegant use of GHG without the need to install incredibly expensive infrastructure to send the power to the grid and can in turn use the same model that miners who have recaptured the flares from remote Oil and Gas refiners and convert waste CH4 into C02, which is more stable GHG but can also be further recaptured once an auxiliary purpose is found--greenhouse prototypes have been a thing that many miners have experimented with and something like genetic research-grade hemp products could be the solution. When people on HN complain about how little is being done by tech to offset GHG and subsequent climate change [1] they should really just be looking at themselves and where they work, because as a staunch environmentalist I can't think of a single form of non-research based tech in renewables that has incentivized so many to invest and build recapturing systems via it's economic incentive--be it relocating miners to capture excess hydro in China, to now this. The model is based on incentives and inducements, which as we've seen in the 13 years is the only viable option, and we're now getting to a matured incentives model (after lots of failures) and as this scales we will reach an inducement model where it is the only sound strategy to offset landfill expenses, reduce damaging release of GHG, and comply with environmental standards that should have been in place all along, but are only possible now after the Climate Bill. Honestly, people here are so opposing of something they didn't get to reap wild benefits from and dismiss it entirely to their own detriment because if they really cared about what is discussed in the most recent heatwave thread they'd be capable of looking beyond their own biases and see a much more viable network to bring about effective solutions towards climate change. 0: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/08/09/a-renewable-energy-company-closes-43m-funding-to-convert-landfill-methane-into-bitcoin/ https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/08/09/a-renewable-ene... 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32396651 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32396651