Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Cogeneration Plant

UNH became the first university in the country to use landfill gas as a primary fuel source in 2009.  This project was completed after 4 years of work, and got the school national recognition.  The system sounds really complicated, but I was able to piece it together.
This was known as a "landfill gas to energy project," and that's a pretty easy way of summing it up.  The energy comes from methane gas from a landfill that has been purified and brought to the school through the use of many wells and collection pipes.  This system enables UNH Durham to obtain about 85% of its energy through this source, a tremendous number by any standards because it's a fairly large school.
The cogeneration plant project costed about $49 million to make, but UNH has found ways to recoup this financial loss.  It is going to sell the renewable energy certificates, and sell power that was not needed for the campus back to the power grid.  Some of this money will be used to further research environmentally-friendly practices for the university.

1 comment:

  1. This is very good information, but I think the first paragraph could be a bit longer.

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