SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- Gas from Sonoma County garbage will soon be powering buses, if a plan to turn landfill gas into vehicle fuel works. The idea is the latest in the effort to help reduce the effects of global warming by cutting down on greenhouse emissions.
About half of the gas coming off Sonoma County’s landfill is natural gas or methane, according to Ken Wells, the county’s waste manager. Instead of letting the air seep out into the atmosphere, he wants to turn it into energy instead. The county is building a facility to do just that.
"Not only will we have clean burning motors in our buses, but we'll also have renewable fueled buses so they don't contribute at all to greenhouse gasses and climate change,” Wells told KCBS’ Bryan Goebel.
The program is part of a federally funded pilot project that will initially power two buses. One challenge, according to Wells, is making sure the gas is consistent and clean enough not to damage the bus engines. If the fuel is determined a success, the entire fleet of 45 buses could eventually be converted to green machines.
"We will look to expanding it and we have actually enough gas in the landfill to fuel the entire county bus fleet. We would have a renewable fuel, clean burning bus fleet in Sonoma County, something I think everyone can be proud of."
The project is the first of its kind in the United States.
(RdD)
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