Clean-power projects turn landfills' methane into electricity

By Tiffany Hsu
The Los Angeles Times
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Landfills, with the tendency to belch noxious greenhouse gases, have long gotten a bad rap from environmentalists.
But now several clean-power technology companies believe waste can be a source of environmentally friendly energy.
FlexEnergy, an Irvine company, showed off a pilot generator Thursday that converts previously unusable methane gas seeping from a Riverside County landfill into 100 kilowatts of electricity. That could be used to help run the sprawling landfill operations or light up more than 100 homes.
The company envisions its generators being installed at many of the country’s 2,300 currently operating or recently closed landfills. Trash in municipal solid-waste landfills produced 22% of all methane emissions nationwide in 2008, second only to the amount produced by animals as they digest food, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.