By Amelia Schlusser, Staff Attorney
The village of Gorak Shep, where the Mt. Everest Biogas Project hopes to construct an anaerobic digester. Image credit: McKay Savage, 2007 |
Mount Everest has received a lot of press lately, largely
due to the massive amounts of trash and human waste left behind by hundreds of
mountain climbers each year. The world’s highest peak has become “the
world’s highest garbage dump,” and as of 2014 climbers are now required to
pay a $4,000 garbage deposit, which they can only recover if they carry 17.6
pounds of litter off the mountain.
According to a March 3 Reuters
article on the Everest trash problem, human waste is more problematic than
other mountaineering trash, because melting snow and ice washes the waste down
the mountain and presents a health hazard for people who rely on water from the
Everest’s glacier-fed rivers. When you consider that climbers leave behind an estimated
26,500 pounds of human waste on the mountain each year, it is clear that
this waste presents a significant problem. Getting the waste off the mountain
is only a partial solution, because the area’s villages have no systems in
place to process and treat the raw waste they receive.
A group of concerned climbers and activists based out of
Seattle have come up with a better solution—to turn the waste into a renewable
energy source. The Mt. Everest
Biogas Project is currently designing an anaerobic digester that will
convert human waste into biogas that the Sherpas can use as a source of
renewable energy.
ClimateProgress’ Emily Atkin recently interviewed Gary Porter, the
project’s founder, who discussed some of the design challenges associated with
constructing an anaerobic digester in the Himalayas. First, anaerobic digesters
can only operate within a temperature range between 68 and 86 degrees
Fahrenheit. Second, the small village that will host the project is extremely
remote, and all equipment and materials must be carried up the mountain by yaks
or people. To overcome these barriers, Porter’s team designed a system that
will use the village’s existing solar power array and a series of batteries to
heat the digester and enable it to operate in the extreme conditions of the
Himalayas.
Once operational, the Mt. Everest Biogas Project will
exemplify the versatility and accessibility of renewable energy on a global
scale. Biogas is a particularly appealing source of energy in the developing
world, because anaerobic digesters help mitigate waste disposal needs and
improve sanitation while providing electricity. Biogas production can also create
valuable byproducts, such as liquid fertilizer. In rural areas, micro-biogas
systems help reduce deforestation by replacing wood for heating and cooking. According
to a 2011 New
York Times article, a home biogas system can reduce firewood consumption by
4.5 tons a year. Some developing countries have made substantial efforts to
deploy small-scale biogas systems; Nepal, for example, has helped its citizens
construct 300,000
biogas systems around the country (and created an estimated 13,000
jobs in doing so).
Biogas systems also provide valuable sources of renewable
energy in the United States. Using anaerobic digestion, wastewater treatment
plants, landfills, and agricultural facilities can convert organic waste into
renewable energy. By enabling these facilities to generate electricity on-site,
biogas systems can significantly reduce a site’s electricity costs. For
example, the City
of Gresham Wastewater Treatment Plant’s 395 kilowatt (kW) biogas-fired
combined heat and power system reduces the facility’s electricity bills by
around $20,000 a month, according to a report
by the Energy Trust of
Oregon. After witnessing the cost savings from this initial system, which
was installed in 2005, the Plant decided to invest in a 420 kW solar array and
a second 395 kW biogas unit. Once these projects are operational, the Plant
estimates that it will save $500,000 a year in electricity costs and generate
an additional $250,000 in revenue from waste haulers.
As these examples illustrate, biogas systems can provide
clean, renewable energy in a number of contexts worldwide. While generating
electricity from organic waste may not have the same charm as generating
electricity from the sun or wind, biogas systems can run on a variety of fuel
sources and thus provide an alternative resource for areas with limited solar
or wind energy potential. The United States has significant biogas potential,
and states should adopt policies to incentivize biogas production within their
borders.
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