Coffin Butte Landfill and Energy Consumption
     
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Research Part I

Research Part II

Research Part III

  

Coffin Butte Landfill


Coffin Butte Landfill receives about 400,000 tons of waste each year.  Bacteria that break down the waste products release 1,480,000 standard cubic feet of methane gas per day.  Currently, three 16-cylinder combustion engines (each produces about 820 kW of power) burn this gas to generate 2.5 Megawatts of power.  The combustion process requires extra methane gas to be added because the landfill gas does not provide enough heat.  The overall efficiency of Coffin Butte's power generation is about 25%.  The electricity produced is being used to power 2,000 homes.  The average American household utilizes 1200 W of power.  If 2.5 mW is divided by the 2,000 homes, 1250 W of power is available per household.  The amount of methane produced by the landfill per day can be divided by the 2,000 houses as well to yield that it takes 740 standard cubic feet of methane gas per day to power a household.

Micro Hydro System

If a Micro Hydro system of hydroelectric power generation (the potential energy of falling water) was used to power a household, a change in elevation (head) of 20 feet and water traveling at 100 gal/minute or a 100 ft. head and a flow of 20 gal/minute would give an output of 200 W.

Energy Consumption

 

The trend of energy consumption in America has increased from about 8.8 x 10^12 kWh in 1950 to about 2.9 x 10^13 kWh in 2000.  Recently, however, Americans have been buying more energy-efficient machines and electrical appliances, so the amount of energy consumption is expected to decrease slightly over the next few years.