Toyota to power Kentucky plant with energy from landfill

[nationalize the fed]

WTVQ Web Desk | :11/16/2015

GEORGETOWN, Ky. (WTVQ) – Toyota has announced a partnership with the Central Kentucky Landfill that will generate electricity from landfill gas starting November 23.

Organizers say the electricity will be enough to produce about 10,000 vehicles per year at the Georgetown plant.


Georgetown Kentucky Toyota Plant Credit: Toyota

The plant will collect the methane-turned-electricity via a 6.5 mile underground line. Methane, a byproduct of trash decomposition, reduces greenhouse-gas emissions when captured and burned, according to the EPA.

As a part of their announcement event, Toyota brought the recently launched Mirai, the world’s first mass-produced hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle. The Mirai’s production is part of Toyota’s recently announced sustainability plan — a goal aimed at largely eliminating CO2 emissions from its vehicles and manufacturing plants by 2050...
MORE: http://www.wtvq.com/2015/11/16/toyota-to-power-plant-with-energy-from-landfill/

Oct 20, 2015: Watch the future become reality as two Back to the Future icons see trash get turned into fuel for a car! Discover more at http://www.toyota.com/FBE

[dumbcat]

1. I'd really like to see some numbers

before I even try to believe this one. Like, how many kWh per year? What capacity factor? Is it dispatchable?

It seems there has been a rash of phony claims and numbers being thrown around this forum lately.

I would really like to believe this one, but I need some more numbers.

[Finishline42]

2. Relevant part of the story - enough electricity to produce 10,000 cars a yr

Relevant part of the story - enough electricity to produce 10,000 cars a yr

That plant produces over 500,000/yr as of 2013.

No need to check their numbers. Nice idea but it's just a small part of the electricity they use daily.

BTW, I would think the methane output of a land fill to be fairly consistent.

[dumbcat]

3. How much electricity is that?

"No need to check their numbers."

OK. No one here should ever check any numbers.

[Finishline42]

4. The point wasn't that stories need verification

the point is simple math - 10,000 / 500,000 = 2% of the electricity they use based on a production of 500,000 vehicles yearly at the Georgetown plant.

It doesn't matter if the land fill resource was actually equal to the amount needed to make 9,000 cars or 11,000 it's still about 2% of their electricity use.

It's a nice promo piece and that methane shouldn't be wasted. The GE plant in Louisville has been using the methane from the landfill just south of the airport for energy since 1999. Again it's a good use of the gas being generated by a landfill.

http://energy.ky.gov/Documents/IFRSGEAppliancesSteamCaseStudy.pdf