DeKalb County, in conjunction with Energy Systems Group and the Clean Cities Atlanta Petroleum Reduction Program, recently opened a new renewable energy facility in Ellenwood, Georgia. The facility “will turn landfill gas into renewable fuel thereby reducing diesel and gasoline fuel consumption and related emissions in the metro Atlanta area,” said CEO Burrell Ellis. The DeKalb County Sanitation Department is converting 70 vehicles to run on biomethane, which is cleaner and less expensive than diesel fuel.
The county’s goal is to eventually replace or adapt its entire fleet of 306 sanitation vehicles with natural gas vehicles over the same time period. The next stage of the project is to construct an on-site fuelling station at the landfill site. In the meantime, according to a Government Fleet report, the biomethane will be injected into Atlanta Gas Light (AGL)’ s piepline this month.
Compared to the cost of diesel fuel, DeKalb County is forecasting fuel savings of USD3 million over the next 8 years.
”We are turning ‘Trash to Gas’ and ‘Gas to Cash’, saving $3 million by using it in DeKalb County vehicles, and we expect to make $1 million each year in sales to private users of CNG vehicles,” said CEO Ellis.
The program is funded by DeKalb County and a U.S. Department of Energy grant made to Clean Cities Atlanta underthe American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. DeKalb County Department of Sanitation partnered with the Clean Cities Atlanta Petroleum Reduction Program, a $40 million initiative with the goals of increasing the supply and availability of renewable fuels and decreasing the demand for petroleum fuels in the metro Atlanta region. Clean Cities supports local decisions to reduce petroleum consumption in the transportation sector through the use of alternative fuels, advanced technology vehicles and fuel economy measures.
(This article primarily compiled using information from an Energy Systems Group press release)
