Mining the Landfills | Green Energy News

January 12, 2003 – Vol.7 No.42

MINING THE LANDFILLS.

Regarding a story in last week’s ENERGIES, a reader wrote that methods other than traditional, combustion waste-to-energy operations or landfill gas operations could be used to tap the potential energy of retired landfill operations.

The reader, who has experience in the field, thought that old leaching dumps could be dug up - in effect mined - with the waste cleanly gasified and then, through gas-to-liquids technologies (GTL), be made into new, biodegradable fuels. New garbage - fresh off the truck - could be mixed with the mined landfill waste along with sewage, and perhaps even coal.

For more information regarding landfill gas operations, the Green Power Market Development Group, an extension of the World Resources Institute (WRI), has published a primer on the environmental, technical and economic issues related to landfill gas projects - Corporate Guide to Green Power Markets, Installment 2, Opportunities with Landfill Gas. Visit the Group at http://www.thegreenpowergroup.org/ .