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Powering up: Dane Parker, director of environmental health and safety for Dell, joins WM CEO David Steiner to officially open the new gas-to-energy plant by bringing the generators online so green power from WM’s Austin Community Landfill can be delivered to Dell.
Austin landfill lights up Dell
AUSTIN, Texas – Waste Management has just taken another step forward in its goal to expand production of landfill gas. On April 3, WM and Dell announced that the computer manufacturer would power its corporate operations using electricity generated at WM’s Austin Community Landfill.
Waste Management will supply 40 percent of the power needed to run Dell’s headquarters in Round Rock, Texas. This is one more project launched by WM that will help the company reach its goal of increasing its landfill-gas-to-energy (LFGTE) production, according to CEO David Steiner. “In the past we’ve been seen as a garbage company,” Steiner said. “Now we see ourselves as a company that provides renewable resources from the waste streams that we manage.”
This resource is taking on more importance as industry experts have identified information technology companies, such as Dell, as a growing source of carbon emissions at the same time that the pressure is on for individuals and businesses to reduce their carbon footprints. Dell, looking for ways to reduce its impact on the environment, recognized the potential use for the methane gas that is a byproduct of decomposition in the Austin Community Landfill. The LFGTE facility produces about six megawatts of electricity – an amount that could power about 6,000 homes. Dell’s 2.1 million square-foot corporate site is using this power.
“Taking landfill gas and converting it to green power is discovering buried treasure for the community,” said Don Smith, MAGM for WM of Central Texas. “We take a once wasted commodity and turn it into a reliable source of renewable energy. This is a major environmental plus for the Austin community and one of its major employers, Dell.”
In addition to the renewable resource provided by the Waste Management facility, Dell will use wind power, provided by Texas-based TXU Energy, to supply the rest of its energy needs.
“I like to call this an environmental closed loop,” Steiner said following a press conference at Dell’s offices. “The waste that’s collected from surrounding communities – Austin, Round Rock and other places – now has come back to us and now we’re going to take that waste, we’re going to create energy, and we’re going to give it back to the community. What used to be the community’s garbage will come around in a loop and provide its power.”
Dell is just one of many companies and organizations to see the value in using LFGTE as a source of power. Last year WM partnered with the University of New Hampshire to supply landfill gas-created power for more than 85 percent of the campus’s needs, and all of WM’s LFGTE projects together supply enough electricity to power more than 400,000 homes. With its goal of opening 10 new LFGTE facilities each year, WM has become the industry leader in developing the technology and processes that will make production more efficient, and help more businesses recognize the value in this renewable resource.
