P.G. Leading Way With New Technology to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

By 250 News

Prince George, B.C.- The City of Pronce George is leading the way with new technology that  uses methane gas to heat and provide electricity to one of its buildings.

The  waste water treatment plant on Lansdowne Road,  is  using micro-turbines to  create enough electricity to  keep that  facility operational.  That's about enough electricity to power up 100 homes.  Utilities Manager Marco Fornari says the technology  involves  capturing methane gas, cleaning it, and finally using it to power up the turbines.

Mayor Colin Kinsley says this new system  will help the City meet its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. (click on photo  at right for short clip)

The project cost about a million dollars to put in place, but Fornari says it willsave about 40% of the  heating bill which is normally about $150 thousand  dollars a year, so the project should  pay for itself in fairly short term.

The other positive about the  system is that it is modular.  Fornari says as the city grows,  more units can be added to the system.

Prince George is the first city in Canada to put this kind of technology to use and other communities are already calling to see how they might be able to adapt it to their systems.

In the long term, Fornari says it is possible that if the system grows to a point where it produces more electricity than is needed,  the excess electricity can  be sold to B.C. Hydro.

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us