Gardner report: Renewable gas offers promising energy source

The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah has released a report detailing the benefits of renewable natural gas (RNG) as a promising energy source that will help decarbonize a portion of Utah’s energy mix. The report, commissioned by Dominion Energy, estimates that Utah RNG volumes could supply 4 percent of Utah’s fossil natural gas demand.

“RNG feedstocks include waste streams from livestock, landfills and food,” said Tom Holst, senior energy analyst at the Gardner Institute and lead author of the report. “By recycling these waste streams, Utah will avoid the release of methane, which has a climate warming potential 25–34 times greater than carbon dioxide.”

The report identifies RNG as a low-carbon energy source. Generation of RNG avoids emissions of methane. Avoidance of methane emissions gives RNG a negative carbon intensity metric (grams of CO2 equivalent per megajoule of energy).

Utah’s current RNG sources are food waste, landfill gas, wastewater treatment plants and livestock farms. In addition, owners of five anaerobic digesters processing livestock waste and one anaerobic digester processing food waste fulfill a vital role in the RNG production chain. The study found that Utah has 54 landfills and 20 wastewater facilities, only some of which are capturing biogas.

The full report is available online at the Gardner webpage, gardner.utah.edu.