That “Green Vision,” which is responsible for San Jose’s success in being a leader on the green frontier, includes goals of receiving 100 percent of the city’s electrical power from clean renewable sources, diverting 100 percent of its waste from landfills and converting waste to energy.
The facility surely would help San Jose meet zero waste and energy goals. Capable of taking in 150,000 tons of organic waste per year to process and produce energy will no doubt help clear up land fills. It is likely that the energy produced would be used to power the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant. Excess energy could be sold to the regional electric grid.
The Zanker Road Biogas project would be developed in three phases, each phase designed to increase capacity by 50,000 tons per year of organic materials—a combination of primarily food waste and the organic portion of the municipal solid waste stream—and produce two products: a renewable bio-gas containing methane and high-quality compost.
Paul Sellew, CEO of Harvest Power commented, “We applaud the City of San Jose for its proactive effort in making renewable energy from organic waste a reality. Our organic waste project will be a major step in moving the City to 100% renewable energy while at the same time enriching local soils with our high quality compost product.”
During development and construction, the facility could employ 30 to 40 workers and it is anticipated that it will employ 50 to 60 jobs during full operation. “Creating green jobs that can’t be outsourced overseas is essential to rebuilding our local and state economy. Through projects like this, San Jose is becoming the world center for clean tech innovation. The proposed Zanker Road Biogas facility can be a model for other municipalities, showing how this technology can help solve their energy challenges,” Reed said.
With the completion of the proposed facility, San Jose would become the first city in the states with such capabilities. And we can only hope that other cities across the nation will adopt such facilities in the near future.
More: Who else is making bio-gas?
Photo Credit: bbchin via flickr under Creative Commons License
Photo2 Credit: PSA Farming
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I think it is great that a city is so involved in becoming green. Now we need the average person to become involved. A simple thing like switching to geothermal heating and cooling or installing solar hot water heaters could reduce the energy use of a household by up to half.