Journey to Ox Mountain

I had an opportunity to take a trip today that interested me both professionally and personally.

I received an invitation for a work "field trip" to visit the power plant at the Ox Mountain landfill in Half Moon Bay.  Ox Mountain is the sole landfill in San Mateo County.  Although Palo Alto isn't in San Mateo County, it has a special partnership with the landfill because Ox Mountain houses a gas-powered electricity generating power plant, fueled by methane released from the landfill waste. Two municipal utilities, in Palo Alto and Alameda, purchase this power.  In Palo Alto, it accounts for about 5% of the total electric power provided to all customers.

This was my first power plant tour, and I felt so lucky that what I got to see was such a nonstandard production model - useful and sustainable.

The methane is released from the landfill via a series of about 180 individual wells. Ameresco, the company that manages the power plant's production, takes a series of precautions to prevent fugitive gasses from escaping during the extraction process.

Here is the outside of the Ameresco facility, atop a beautiful hill on Ox Mountain.

Here is the view from the facility. In the second photo, the edge of the active landfill is visible.

It was super foggy!  When I left Palo Alto, it was about 80F outside.  Thirty minutes away, at the Ox Mountain site, it was 58F outside.  I probably should have packed a jacket.

Inside of the facility, a series of GE Jenbacher engines power the heart of the operation.  It was incredibly hot and incredibly loud (headphones required) in the engine room.

After viewing the power plant, the tour moved to the landfill, which was the most interesting element to me on a personal level.  Finally, after my years of zero waste efforts, I was going to see MY OWN LANDFILL!  The one I have worked so diligently to avoid sending any trash to (which is kind of ironic, but just a little bit, now that I see how the trash is being used to produce "green" electricity). 

I'll condense my reaction to seeing the landfill to a series of bullet points.  Otherwise, I might ramble on forever.

-Ox Mountain is beautiful

-Ox Mountain is really cold and really foggy

-The landfill is massive

-It costs $17,000 per month to keep seagulls out of the trash.  The methods are pretty interesting: a noise gun, dogs, and falcons.  I saw all three in action.

It was so gratifying to stand at the edge of the landfill and have a concrete image of why I have worked so hard to reduce the waste I produce.

As we stood at the edge of the landfill and looked down at it, the tour guide, who was a very pleasant but unexpected mix of Al Gore and ZZ Top, said "Look down there.  We're all in there together.  All of us." And he's right.