A mountain of green fuel…
Kansas City Power and Light (KC&L), the Kansas City, Mo., power utility is planning to use garbage as a feedstock to generate electricity at a plant it is developing in Saint Joseph, Mo., about 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of Kansas City.
Specifically, the plant will pipe methane gas created from decomposing garbage piled at the Saint Joseph landfill. Methane is a gas that if left to seep into the atmosphere can be more virulent than green house gases.
The Saint Joseph landfill has 3 million tons of garbage collected from 17 counties. The plant is expected to start operating next year.