Full Title: Putting New York's Organic Waste to Work
Author(s): Michael S. Lerner and Matthew P. Tomich
Publisher(s): Energy Vision
Publication Date: November 7, 2023
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Expanding anaerobic digestion (AD) of organic wastes to produce renewable natural gas (RNG) fuel can benefit New York State in many ways: by helping achieve the State’s climate goals, improving public health, and fostering economic development.
New York has developed ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction policies under its Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), yet it has failed to address one of the major sources of methane – the waste sector. This is despite the fact that methane, a “climate super pollutant,” has an environmental impact that is 84-87 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.
Methane comprises a full 39% of New York’s GHG emissions, and organic wastes account for 34% of the State’s methane emissions. Organic wastes generate nearly triple the methane emitted by the oil and gas industry (including pipelines) in NYS.
New York can’t do very much about 43% of its methane that are upstream emissions from fossil fuels (primarily natural gas) imported from out-of-state, but it can absolutely do something very practical about its in-state organic waste. Using anaerobic digesters is the one recognized strategy for capturing the methane-rich biogas from organic waste. Energy Vision has calculated the potential that ADs have to cut methane emissions from their major sources and the benefits of doing so.