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Landfill Gas: Creating Green Energy in China

Recovering greenhouse gases from landfills is an important step toward sustainable environmental management. With support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ICMA facilitated a partnership between a U.S. city and a core group of Chinese municipalities to recover methane gas from landfills and use it as a clean energy source.

Landfill Gas Wells and Collection Piping

For a Chinese language version of this site, click here. 中文版

Greenhouse gas emissions are of increasing concern as a contributor to global warming, and new technologies make it possible to recover this gas (e.g., methane gas) from landfills and use it for beneficial purposes. Responding to the concern, ICMA launched Landfill Gas: Creating Green Energy, a program initiated and supported by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The program was a part of a public-private Methane to Markets (M2M) Partnership that has a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by promoting the cost-effective, near-term recovery and use of methane, while providing clean energy to markets around the world.

The year-long program, which ran through September 2010, was designed to inform and equip local government leaders in China to recover methane gas from landfills for use as a clean energy source by sharing practices developed in the United States. Through the program, Chinese communities gained technical knowledge about landfill gas (LFG) capture systems, management issues and techniques, and financing methods.

Employing ICMA’s international CityLinks partnership model, the city of Annapolis, Maryland, shared its expertise in landfill methane gas (LFG) recovery with a half-dozen Chinese municipalities. In Annapolis at the time of the program, a closed but uncapped landfill was being modified to capture methane gas for use as an associated heat source in a nearby biomass gasification facility. The sale of methane to the biomass facility was anticipated to provide a long-term funding stream to the city to support the ongoing maintenance, environmental monitoring, and any environmental cleanup required at the landfill.

Another partner in implementing the program was the Zhongguancun Environmental Protection Industry Promotion Center (Z-Park), which has a long history of working closely with energy and solid waste industry experts, local government officials, and environmental leaders to provide training and build capacity in technology applications.

Program activities included a workshop in Changsha, Hunan Province, in June 2010 attended by municipal officials, students majoring in environmental studies, private-sector representatives, and members of the press. Participants gave the workshop high ratings: 97 percent gave it an overall rating of good, very good, or excellent, and 96 percent indicated that there was "a big chance" (49 percent) or a possibility (47 percent) that they would promote a methane gas recovery system following the workshop.

The workshop was followed by a webcast in Chinese in June 2010.

Potential Future Partnerships

ICMA is exploring an expansion of its landfill methane assistance program in China. If you are interested in any of the following, contact Barbara Yuhas at ICMA:

Chinese Cities: Contact us if (1) you want practical solutions for reducing methane emissions from your landfill or (2) your city would like to participate in a CityLinks partnership with a U.S. city to reduce methane emissions--assuming assistance is available from ICMA.
U.S. Cities: If your city has mitigated methane gas from landfills and you would be willing to share your solutions with cities in other countries through an available ICMA program.

Program Goals and Activities

ICMA's goals are to disseminate information, raise awareness, and facilitate U.S.-China partnerships that foster sustainable relationships to implement landfill methane recovery and use. Read more . . .

Related ICMA Programs

ICMA has a long history of promoting responsible use of human, economic, and natural resources. The organization has developed extensive resources to help local governments around the world achieve sustainability goals and address climate change. Read more . . .

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Resources

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Methane to Markets Partnership has a wide array of resources available to help local officials recover landfill methane gas. Read more . . .

Assessment Reports

These assessment reports evaluate the technical feasibility and the institutional and political framework of capturing and using methane gas at the landfills in China. Read more . . .

Landfill Gas Modeling Tools

These tools provide a generation model for estimating LFG generation and recovery from existing or future municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills in China. Read more . . .

Documents from Methane to Markets Partnership Expo, Beijing, China (2007)

Partners and Project Network members seeking technical support, financial support, or consultation are invited to add project ideas and activities to this database. Read more . . .