Waste and Energy Task Force Initiative

Background

Mayor Hamilton first made mention of forming a potential task force to consider the feasibility of a renewable energy initiative at his 2019 State of the City address. The idea sprang forth from the desire to do our part to limit global climate change, while at the same time increasing our own energy sustainability and self-reliance. On Earth Day, April 22, 2019, Mayor Hamilton announced the formation of the Waste and Energy Task Force, convened to evaluate the technical issues and feasibility of such a project.

The system under consideration would involve the addition of an anaerobic digestion process at the Dillman wastewater plant, Bloomington's largest such facility, which could accept compostable waste and convert it into compressed natural gas, which would not only keep waste out of the landfill, but keep the compostable organic matter from releasing methane -- a greenhouse gas -- into the atmosphere.  Having performed those great preventive goals, this process could also net us a very useful by-product: compressed natural gas (or CNG).  A fuel source that is not only renewable but substantially cleaner than diesel, CNG could potentially power our municipal fleet -- from Bloomington Transit buses to sanitation trucks and snow plows.