RENEWABLE ENERGY DATABASE

[Al Rosenfield]

The League of Women Voters has posted its most recent estimate of renewable energy in Ohio. Renewable capacity is slightly above one percent of total electrical generating capacity, much of it by utilizing various forms of waste. Planned projects show progress towards meeting the goals of SB221, with the exception of the solar set-aside. The report is posted on the League of Women Voters of Metropolitan Columbus web site at http://tinyurl.com/lwvmc-10-02

[Dave Rinebolt]

Al --

This is very useful. Given recent concerns I have heard regarding biomass, I wanted to point out that landfills and the pretreatment of organic waste will produce medium Btu gas whether or not it is capture for energy. RCRA requires the gas from landfills be flared and I imagine the gas from organic waste is also flared unless captured and used to heat the digesters. If this gas will be produced anyway, it seems reasonable to squeeze the energy content out of it.

The real concern regarding biomass is with wood waste from harvesting operations. I suggest people take a closer look at the research. Bottom line -- if you believe every tree is sacred, you won't like biomass technologies that use forestry waste.

Dave Rinebolt

[Al Rosenfield]

Dave Rinebolt said:

Al --

This is very useful. Given recent concerns I have heard regarding biomass, I wanted to point out that landfills and the pretreatment of organic waste will produce medium Btu gas whether or not it is capture for energy. RCRA requires the gas from landfills be flared and I imagine the gas from organic waste is also flared unless captured and used to heat the digesters. If this gas will be produced anyway, it seems reasonable to squeeze the energy content out of it.

The real concern regarding biomass is with wood waste from harvesting operations. I suggest people take a closer look at the research. Bottom line -- if you believe every tree is sacred, you won't like biomass technologies that use forestry waste.

Dave Rinebolt

Dave - It's my understanding that the utilities are backing away from wood because it costs much more than they anticipated. - Al