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The city of Annapolis, Maryland, will share its expertise in landfill gas (LFG) recovery with Chinese municipalities under a new program awarded to ICMA by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Employing ICMA’s international CityLinks partnership model, Annapolis city administrator and public works director Bob Agee will work pro-bono with local officials in a half-dozen Chinese cities.
The year-long program, which will run through September 2010, will inform and equip local government leaders in China to recover methane gas from landfills for use as a clean energy source. Their communities will gain technical knowledge about LFG capture systems, management issues and techniques, and financing methods.
The goals of the new program are to
- Raise awareness, knowledge, and technical expertise among Chinese officials about LFG capture and recovery systems and facilitate the implementation of these systems in China
- Combine the experience of a local government practitioner with that of a seasoned international consultant to develop cost-effective solutions to reduce methane emissions through the capture and beneficial use of methane from landfills in China
- Provide avenues for transfer to China of appropriate best practices and technologies from the United States
- Leave in place a network that will provide a support system among individuals in China and the United States after the program ends.
In Annapolis, a closed but uncapped landfill is 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 will provide a long-term funding stream to the city to support the ongoing maintenance, environmental monitoring, and any environmental cleanup required at the landfill.
The program is funded under the EPA’s public-private Methane to Markets (M2M) Partnership, which 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. EPA has released a report showing that in 2008, U.S.-supported M2M projects achieved methane emissions reductions equivalent to more than 26 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, roughly the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 4.7 million passenger vehicles.
The EPA/ICMA program supports the Chinese government’s Renewable Energy Policy encouraging the exploitation and use of clean or renewable energy sources. Among the long-term outcomes the program seeks to achieve are
- Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through the productive use of methane gas in the development of new LFG systems
- Improved health and well-being of local residents due to reduction in demand for coal-generated power
- Subsequent improvement in local air and water quality
- Mitigation of emissions that are implicated in climate change.
To implement the program, ICMA will employ training seminars, site visits to local landfills, one-on-one consultations, and webcasts.
Seminars will be hosted by the city of Changsha. Sessions will include participants from state government, universities, and the private sector as well as from local governments, as each has a role in the successful implementation of a recovery and reuse program. Presenters will include Mr. Agee and a U.S.-based technical consultant who is also a native Chinese speaker. They will
- Address the benefits and challenges of LFG systems
- Prepare participants to assess the resource through prediction of LFG production
- Improve participants’ understanding of techniques for capturing, managing, and utilizing LFG as a clean energy source
- Share case studies and leading practices for implementation, management, financing, and maintenance.
A webcast in the later months of the program will invite participants to discuss specific technical issues and to have their questions answered by experienced Chinese local government officials and by members of the U.S. training team.
Two jurisdictions that have shown progress but that lack access to in-country resources will be selected for additional technical assistance and support through follow-up visits.
ICMA will host a “Methane to Markets” Web site that include the training modules, supplemental materials for participants, details about the program, and links to EPA’s Methane to Markets and Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) Web sites. It will include a Chinese language page for the dissemination of project announcements and access to the webcasts.
To implement the program, ICMA will work with 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. The Z-Park actively promotes innovations that facilitate the development of critical energy-saving and environmentally safe technologies in industrial processes, resource conservation and energy management, solid waste, and other sectors.
This program continues ICMA’s 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:
- ICMA’s Sustainable Communities Leadership Initiative is supported by ICMA members, foundations, and corporate entities.
- ICMA has partnered with EPA to provide education, outreach, and training about energy efficiency, specifically the value of the ENERGY STAR program.
- ICMA coordinates the Smart Growth Network, which provides resources and technical assistance to facilitate the implementation of smart growth in communities across the country.
- ICMA operates and maintains the Local Government Environmental Assistance Network (LGEAN), a "first-stop shop" providing environmental management, planning, funding, and regulatory information for local government elected and appointed officials, managers and staff.
- With an earlier grant from EPA's Landfill Methane Outreach Program, ICMA provided landfill regulatory and landfill gas-to-energy information, materials, and resources to local government officials in cities and counties across the United States.
- ICMA has widely disseminated climate change information (including information on energy efficiency and renewable energy) to local governments nationwide.
For additional information about ICMA’s international programs, visit the ICMA International Web site, or e-mail international@icma.org.
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