The United States Coast Guard is currently undertaking the largest renewable energy project in its history at the Curtis Bay shipyard in Baltimore, Maryland. A cogeneration plant consisting of four engines will run on methane gas - a byproduct of decomposing materials - siphoned from a nearby city-owned landfill. The plant will power the entire Coast Guard facility and use waste heat to produce steam for heating.

"We met with the city and told them we were interested in the methane and that we would use it to produce electricity." said Rick Eschenbach, director of maintenance and operations at the yard. "There is existing legislation that allows federal government and local governments to negotiate on things such as this."

Landfills naturally produce methane gas, which local utilities regularly "flare" or burn off in order to minimize methane's explosive potential if allowed to accumulate. Flaring of methane also offsets the methane's environmental impact as a water contaminant and greenhouse gas.

"Obviously when you burn methane there'll be emissions," admits Eschenbach. "But considering we're using the methane to produce both steam and electricity...our emission levels will be considerably less [than if they bought the electricity]."

The Coast Guard claims carbon offsets from the project will be equivalent to removing 33,000 cars from local highways each year the plant is in operation.

The project has garnered strong support from the Environmental Protection Agency and the local community, while satisfying all of the Department of Homeland Security's renewable energy requirements for the next four years.

The Coast Guard estimates the annual savings from the project on both electricity and natural gas will amount to $1,892,000. However, over the next 17 years, the bulk (91%) of those savings will go to the Ameresco Energy Services company to cover expenses for the plant's construction, operation, and maintenance. The remaining 9% will be given to the City of Baltimore for rights to the landfill's methane. After 17 years, the Coast Guard will take back the savings from Ameresco.    

The plans should make taxpayers happy, since no additional taxpayer dollars will be needed to build or run the plant. Additional savings stem from their earnings in renewable energy credits, which they would otherwise have to purchase from third parties in order to meet their quota.

Another side-benefit of the project comes in the form of increased security. Dependence on over-burdened power grids may impede the ability of government and military agencies to respond to threats during natural disasters, terrorist attacks, or at other times when the power may be knocked out. In the case of such events, facilities powered by cogeneration plants will have the ability to operate independently from the power grid.   

"If something like that were to happen to us," says Eschenbach, referring to the possibility of a major power failure, "we would be able to come totally off the grid and stay up and running."

The EPA has also designated the 107-year-old Coast Guard yard a superfund site, which ranks it among some of the worst hazardous waste sites in the country and earns it a place on the National Priorities List for cleanup. Environmental plans at the Coast Guard call for the contaminated soil to be excavated, transported to special containment facilities, and replaced by "fresh, clean dirt."

"We know particularly from World War One and Two, with the shipbuilding that went on that there were several burning sites and incinerators on premise," Eschenbach says, stressing that the contamination stems entirely from past activities. "Back in those days you dumped and burned and left it. Now we know better."

Generations past may have cared little about the impact of their industrial activities, but increasing federal regulations over the past several decades, as well as the rising cost of energy, pose the challenge to come up with cleaner, sounder, and more efficient operating practices. And it seems the Coast Guard is once again answering the call of duty.  

Aerial view of the proposed cogeneration plant: