|
 |
|
 Accomplishments
LMOP promotes landfill gas (LFG) as an important local energy resource.
LMOP has been successful
in encouraging and facilitating the development of environmentally
and economically sound LFG energy projects. LMOP does this
by educating local government
and communities about the benefits of LFG recovery and building
partnerships between state agencies, industry, energy service
providers, local communities,
and other stakeholders interested in developing this valuable
resource.
Accomplishments since program launch in 1994 include the following:
- As of December 2007, LMOP has more than 700 Partners that have signed voluntary agreements to work with EPA to develop cost-effective LFG energy projects.
- LMOP has developed detailed profiles for over
1,300 candidate landfills.
- There are approximately 445 operational LFG energy projects in the United States. In addition, about 110 projects are currently under construction or are exploring development options and opportunities.
- To date, LMOP has assisted in the development of approximately 360 LFG utilization projects - including 30 new projects and 20 project expansions that went online in 2007. These 360 projects have prevented the release of more than 28 million metric tons of carbon equivalent (MMTCE - the basic unit of measure of greenhouse gases) into the atmosphere over the past 13 years.
- In the year 2007, all operational LFG energy projects in the United States prevented the release of more than 21 MMTCE.
- This reduction is the carbon equivalent of the annual greenhouse gas emissions from more than 14 million passenger vehicles or the carbon sequestered annually by nearly 18 million acres of pine or fir forests.
- This reduction also has the same environmental benefit as preventing the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the consumption of nearly 182 million barrels of oil or from the burning of more than 408,000 railcars’ worth of coal.
The graph below illustrates the growth of LFG utilization projects
before and after LMOP’s inception. The first LMOP-assisted projects
started in 1995, as illustrated by the shaded portion atop the 1995 bar.
After 1995, the projects are divided into two categories, those that
fall under the New Source Performance Standards/Emission Guidlines (NSPS/EG
- in blue) and those that don’t (in yellow). Within those two categories,
the shaded lines illustrate LMOP assistance. Since 1995, there has been
growth in all of the above mentioned areas.
See a larger version of this chart >>
The graph below illustrates LMOP's emission reduction goals as well
as performance in relation to these goals. In 2001-2007, LMOP met its
goal and anticipates that in future years will continue to meet increasing
emission reductions. For 2007, we have broken down the source of the
reductions into its three primary components - electricity generation,
direct-use, and flaring.
See a larger version of this chart >>
|
