Regulatory Reform Creates New Organic Waste to Energy Business Opportunities
As part of an Integrated Waste Management plan the state is launching a stakeholder engagement process to develop recommendations for overcoming existing barriers to siting organic waste to energy and anaerobic digestion facilities. Massachusetts has set a goal of reducing solid waste disposal 30% by 2050 which aligns this timeline with the states greenhouse gas goals outlined in the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) in 2008. Additionally, the state will be implementing an organics ban in 2014 as part of this integrated approach to waste reduction.
The diversion of solid and organic waste materials from landfills has numerous positive economic and health benefits, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, waste hauling fees, miles traveled by waste hauling vehicles, a reduction in the number of landfills, and increased recycling rates.
The economic benefits of increased recycling rates have an enormous impact on the state by bolstering and supporting over 2,000 businesses associated with recycling, reuse, and re-manufacturing with an estimated 14,000 jobs and revenues of $3.2 Billion
Waste to energy facilities can become an important component of the renewable energy portfolio for the state as outlined in the Green Communities Act of 2008, as they are eligible for renewable energy credits.
One of the most promising non-combustion processes for converting waste to energy is through Anaerobic Digestion (AD), a process in which organic materials are broken down and utilized as feedstock in an oxygen deprived environment to produce biogas.
Greentech’s EPA funded Newmarket Eco-Industrial Zone Project is pursuing a number of sustainable strategies for local businesses to reduce their operating costs associated with energy and waste. The wholesale produce and meat distribution facilities in Newmarket collectively produce over 27,000 tons of organic waste, which is presently trucked off- site by waste hauling companies and would provide enough feedstock for a district based AD facility. This presents a tremendous opportunity for the district to secure a renewable energy source that is centered on a locally sourced waste product. The project will also be exploring the implementation of a district-scale energy facility that uses the biogas as a fuel source through a Cogeneration Plant to provide both electricity and district heat for the businesses within the industrial corridor.
read moreNewmarket Eco-Industrial Zone RFP Addendum Released
GreenTech released an addendum today to the Newmarket Eco-Industrial Zone Program Project Management RFP that was released in late September. The addendum provides answers to questions submitted by respondents, as well as some additional project background, project budget clarification and related feasibility study funding information, and respondent team composition expectation feedback that address lines of inquiry from several respondents.
Copies of the RFP are still available from the Office of the Executive Director/Secretary, Boston Redevelopment Authority, Boston City Hall, One City Hall Square, Room 910, Boston, MA 02201-1007, for a nonrefundable fee of twenty five dollars ($25.00). Checks should be made payable to the “Boston Redevelopment Authority.” Responses are due October 29th.
read moreGreenTech Seeks Project Manager for Newmarket Eco-Industrial Zone
Solyndra Solar Array: Stop and Shop at South Bay in Newmarket
The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), acting through its GreenTech Initiative, seeks proposals from a consultant or consulting group (“Consultant”) to provide Program Project Management (“PPM”) services for the Newmarket Eco-Industrial Zone Program, to be funded with a recently awarded grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Sustainable Skylines Initiative.
The Eco-Industrial Zone Program is intended to advance an array of sustainable business development, energy, and environemntal goals by:
• Convening stakeholders and partners, including industrial district business stakeholders, academic and government leaders, residents, non-governmental organizations, community groups, and state agencies to examine opportunities for, and barriers to, the adoption and implementation of emissions reductions, energy efficiency, and renewable energy policies and programming in the City’s industrial districts;
• Examining the opportunities and barriers to the development of district-wide energy resources, including wind, biomass, geothermal energy, combined heat and power, and solar, and the creation of a unified eco-industrial zone;
• Examining district-wide planning issues—for example, transportation—with significant effects on energy consumption and emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants;
• Developing strategies for implementing best practice measures identified through the assessment process;
• Preparing and disseminating a strategy report that describes both short-term and long-term strategies for retrofitting and transforming existing urban industrial areas into “eco-industrial zones” with a high degree of efficiency and synergies.
This Request for Proposals (“RFP”) will be available starting today Wednesday, September 29, at noon from the Office of the Executive Director/Secretary, Boston Redevelopment Authority, Boston City Hall, One City Hall Square, Room 910, Boston, MA 02201-1007, for a nonrefundable fee of twenty five dollars ($25.00). Checks should be made payable to the “Boston Redevelopment Authority.”
