What happens to garbage when you throw it away? In the United States, two-thirds of our trash ends up in landfills—超过1.5亿吨 每年. 关于 half of that waste comes from food scraps and other organic materials, producing methane and other greenhouse gases as it decomposes. The pollution adds up: recent data suggest that waste management is the 第三大 U的贡献者.S. 甲烷排放, following the energy and agricultural sectors.
But methane isn’t just a greenhouse gas—it’s also an energy-dense fuel that, 作为一种资源, 我们浪费. 有了正确的投资, we could isolate organic waste before it enters landfills, then capture the resulting methane. Sewage and wastewater treatment can also be optimized for methane production. 一旦恢复, 这个干净的, low-carbon “biomethane” can be readily used for electricity, 加热, 和运输. U.S. waste-derived biomethane could produce nearly 4.5 billion gasoline equivalent gallons of fuel annually—enough energy for 10.400万辆车或13辆.700万户家庭.
Though regions and resources differ, the United States currently only captures and uses about 18 percent of its total biomethane potential. Increasing that percentage will require smart, forward-looking policies that recognize the valuable potential of our waste streams—isolating organic waste, 产生的能量, and composting what’s left or turning it into fertilizer.
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