Mitigating Climate Change Through Landfill Gas Energy Projects

A product of West Virginia Tech, Tony Tallarico also pursued graduate studies in occupational safety at Marshall University. Tony Tallarico founded Charleston, WV Parts Supply Company in 2003, and grew it to become the West Virginia’s largest supplier of integral reciprocating compressor parts. The firm’s subsidiary, Tallarico Energy, is into landfill gas projects.

In the United States, municipal solid waste landfills are the third-highest contributor of human-produced methane emissions. The global warming potential of methane is 25 times higher than carbon dioxide. Reducing methane emissions from landfills are among the best options to lessen the impact of global climate change in the near-term.

Landfill gas energy projects are estimated to catch approximately 60 to 90 percent of landfill gas. Methane gas captured disintegrates into water and carbon dioxide when the gas is burned to generate electricity, thus reducing methane emissions. Carbon dioxide, on the other hand, was already present in the previously living biomass in the landfill, so there is no additional carbon dioxide produced that contributes to global warming and climate change.