News & Updates
- DOER Coordinates Solicitation for Long-Term Renewable Energy Contracts by Electric Utilities
- New Emergency Regulation Filed for RPS Class I with Solar Carve-Out
- RFP Issued for Solar PV Electricity Generation on Public Facilities (SEP)
- Applicability of Biomass Energy Status Change Clarified in Q&A
- Solar Credit Clearinghouse Final Design Document Available
Landfill Gas Recovery
DOER is working with the Environmental Protection Agency's Landfill Gas Outreach Program (LMOP), the CONEG Northeast Regional Biomass Program, the Mass Department of Environmental Protection's Solid Waste Bureau and the Mass Department of Public Utilities' siting board to evaluate the potential for C02 mitigation through the capture of and energy recovery of methane gas from landfills.
Small landfills (less than 1 million tons) are not required to install landfill gas (LFG) control systems, because economies of scale are not available to viably capture LFG.
Since methane is 20 times as powerful a greenhouse gas precursor as C02, extending controls to such small landfills which make up 80% of the total number of landfills in the Commonwealth can be an important determinant in health protection.
Another agricultural product -- corn -- has become a staple for the production of ethanol and ETBE, an additive used in reformulated gasoline that reduces carbon monoxide.
Under study is a plan to allow future power plant developers to contribute to a fund that reduces the cost of LFG capture from small landfills, thereby overcoming the economic penalty of small size. EPA is funding two companion studies: (1) collecting data on Massachusetts landfills characteristics and (2) evaluating policy options for administering a Methane-mitigation fund.
For more information on this, or our other biofuels efforts, please contact us at 617-727-4732, or by e-mail at DOER.Energy@State.MA.US.