Metro Vancouver plans to recoup costs from what you flush down the toilet.
The regional district, which runs the Lower Mainland’s sewage treatment facilities, will capture methane gas from waste treated at the Lulu Island plant in Richmond and sell it to natural gas company FortisBC.
The gas will be captured and purified using a technology called MicroSludge, which was developed by Vancouver-based Paradigm Environmental Technologies. It will cost Metro Vancouver $13 million to put the technology in place. The project received funding from the provincial and federal governments.
“The fundamental purpose of sewerage systems and wastewater treatment plants is to protect the environment and human health,” said Greg Moore, mayor of Port Coquitlam and chair of the Metro Vancouver board. “But liquid waste is also a potential source of energy.”
Metro Vancouver won’t make a profit on the gas sales: it expects the revenue to help it to break even on the methane capture project over the next 20 years, according to Jeff Carmichael, division manager of utility research and innovation at Metro Vancouver.
The regional district will sell the methane gas to FortisBC at $13.40 a kilojoule, Carmichael said. FortisBC will in turn sell the gas to its customers.
Methane gas, a key contributor to global warming, is currently flared off at Lulu Island. At other treatment plants in the region, the gas is captured and used to power the facilities. This project will be the first to use captured methane gas to power furnaces, stoves and hot water heaters in people’s homes.
