When I first started to read about the cogeneration plant at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, I thought it was the coolest thing! The cogeneration plant is a heat and power facility that is taking methane gas from nearby landfills and turning it into electricity. UNH will receive eighty percent of their power and heat from pure methane, and they are the first university to use gas as a source of power.
First, the methane gas from the landfill is collected and transformed into its pure form (from the help of TREE). Then, the gas is transferred to the University's cogeneration plant by traveling 12.7 miles through pipes underground. The plant then transforms the gas into energy. By doing this, UNH will be saving money and reducing greenhouse gas emissions (by 21 percent an academic year).
To me (as I am sure it is for other people) this is huge! I would rather have cities powered by natural gas rather than nuclear energy. In an event of a nuclear melt down, we have to be able to control and secure the condition before it turns into a threatening situation. I don't care how secure people think nuclear power plants are--the minute it's not secure it becomes dangerous. If the cogeneration plant were to malfunction some day, we would have nothing to worry about! Natural gas has no threat to the environment or humans. I think methane gas (if this cogeneration plant really proves to be efficient) should be the future heat and power source of homes (at least partially, like what UNH is doing)!Sources:
http://www.unh.edu/users/unh/admin/sustain/climate_ed/cogen_landfillgas.html
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