The generation of power from leftovers is fuelling clean-energy projects around the world.
Creating power from leftovers is cooking up a worldwide energy revolution
Recipe for a power-hungry world: Take cheese whey, whisky mash, yeast-filled brewery water and sewage sludge and turn it into biogas to fuel electric power plants. Alongside other sources like unconventional natural gas, creating power from leftovers is cooking up a worldwide energy revolution − the distributed power revolution.
Distributed power is nimble. It's based on small, independent power plants that can serve farms, factories and entire communities. Unlike centralized power that reaches its users through the larger grid, both the power and the raw materials used to create biogas are relatively close, minimizing transmission and distribution costs.
GE's Jenbacher gas engines devour the biogas that percolates through mountains of garbage at landfills. They gobble up gas produced by microbes feasting on grease and the by-products of breweries, cheese producers and food manufacturers. When there's not enough biomass available, they can use natural gas, taking advantage of abundant new discoveries in places like Western Canada and the United States.
The lean-burning gas engines have been put to work in New York State, at the 2012 London Olympic Village and at a Guinness brewery in Nigeria, as well as at a Nigerian company that manufactures anti-malaria equipment such as syringes and intravenous needles. Distributed power's market share is expected to rise in Germany, too.
In Manesar, India, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. replaced four of its 14 diesel generators with two Jenbacher engines, a move expected to cut power generation costs by 45 per cent, compared with the decommissioned engines.
A hospital in Wisconsin, a rice mill in Cambodia and a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Rio de Janeiro are all using distributed power, too.
The University of British Columbia in Vancouver has opened a $34-million plant using a Jenbacher engine that burns gasified tree-trimmings and wood chips diverted from local landfills. This Combined Heat and Power (CHP) workhorse generates enough heat and electricity to power 1,500 homes and supply up to 12 per cent of UBC's heat needs, while reducing campus greenhouse gas emissions by 9 per cent.
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This content was produced by The Globe and Mail's advertising department, in consultation with GE. The Globe's editorial department was not involved in its creation.