Fort Wayne welcomes first RNG renewable natural gas plant - 21 Alive News
Fort Wayne welcomes first RNG renewable natural gas plant
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) - Republic Services and BP’s Archaea Energy celebrate the new renewable natural gas plant in Fort Wayne.
Company officials and city leaders joined together to celebrate the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the RNG plant.
Virgil Luster is one of the operations technicians working on the project. He says he’s proud of the work he’ll do here at the RNG plant.
“If we use [the RNG] plant then we are saving the planet and also using that renewable energy to heat our homes,” Luster said.
Officials say the goal of the new project is for Achaea Energy to take the methane produced from the trash in the landfill. They then will use new technology to convert the trash into renewable natural gas that can be used to heat your home.
“We’re collecting that methane gas being put into the atmosphere or even being captured and burned and we’re collecting that methane gas,” Archaea Energy’s CEO said. “We’re upgrading it, we’re cleaning it and we’re putting it back into the pipeline for beneficial use.”
Some environmentalists say they worry about methane spills.
The company behind the project says safety is a number one priority. They also recognize this will only be one part of a bigger effort to go green.
“It will never be a really large part of the overall natural gas usage in the United States,” VP of Sustainability Innovation at Republic Services Tim Oudman said. “But it is certainly a low carbon thermal fuel source, something that you can’t get from any other places.”
Luster says Fort Wayne is the right place to take a step toward sustainability. Lightening Renewables’ Fort Wayne plant is the first of 40 plants nationwide.
“We’ll be able to help my family and other families out there in the world to make it a better place for generations to come,” Luster said. “I think it’s amazing.”
To learn more about the project, click here.
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