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Communicating the Benefits of Landfill Gas Energy Projects
Here are some tips for beginning or expanding outreach efforts for your
landfill gas (LFG) energy project:
Who Do You Want to Reach?
Some of the key stakeholders you may want to reach include:
- Community leaders, such as local officials
(town or city council members, city managers, the mayor), and representatives
from environmental groups, consumer and civic associations, schools,
and nongovernmental and educational organizations.
- Your neighbors. People that live closest
to your landfill or those who use the energy generated by the LFG
are often the most interested in your project and the impact on the
community and local environment. Even if your project is located in
a rural area, nearby communities and people whose waste has gone to
the landfill are interested in new developments at the landfill. Landfill
neighbors near and far are interested in good news about improved maintenance
or new environmental initiatives at the landfill. Working with your
neighbors and asking for their support is important to your project's
success!
- Employees, customers/users, shareholders. Educating
your employees and getting them interested in your LFG energy
project is often an important first outreach step. Users of the energy
generated or the landfill itself are also important target audiences.
If you are a private firm, you also want to reach your customers and
shareholders.
What Do You Want to Communicate About Your
Project?
Some of the benefits you may want to highlight include:
- Environmental Benefits. Landfill gas energy
projects lead to cleaner air, including reductions in smog, odor, and
greenhouse gas emissions. See LFG as Green Power for more information on marketing LFG energy and see the LFGE Benefits Calculator to estimate greenhouse gas reductions from LFG recovery projects.
- Economic Benefits. Landfill gas energy projects create jobs associated with the design, construction, and operation of energy recovery systems. Much of the construction and development funding is spent locally for drilling, piping, construction, and operational personnel. Also, economic development near the landfill may improve as a result of odor reductions or other project activities. In North Carolina, for example, LFG energy is used in an innovative way to provide heat and power to greenhouses and a craft studio, providing a unique economic development opportunity for the community. To estimate the economic feasibility of a LFG energy project, see LFGcost-Web under Documents, Tools, and Resources.
- Community Benefits. Using LFG
is a win/win situation for all project partners, especially the community.
Landfill gas energy projects help ensure that local landfills are well
managed and make the area around the site a better place to live.
- Energy Benefits. Landfill gas is a reliable,
renewable, local fuel source that reduces our reliance on fossil fuels.
Landfill gas is also the only renewable that directly reduces pollution
to the atmosphere. Since LFG occurs naturally, by collecting
and converting it to energy, you are putting to use a fuel source that
would otherwise have been wasted. Landfill gas energy projects are
available to generate electricity over 90 percent of the time, 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week.
How Do You Get Your Message Out?
There are many ways to "get the word out" about your LFG energy project and its benefits.
Working with your local media is one of the most effective ways to communicate
the benefits of LFG energy to your local community, and reach
a large number of people. The environmental and community benefits of
your LFG energy project, the potential for economic returns,
and the technical innovations are selling points for a news story about
landfill gas energy.
In addition to working with the media, other ways to communicate your
message include: conducting site tours; making presentations at community
meetings; placing advertisements in print media and on TV and radio;
creating brochures, flyers, or posters; developing a display or booth
for community events; and creating a project Web site. All of these activities
are described in this Toolkit (see Sample Tools
for LMOP Outreach).
When is it Most Useful to Do Your Outreach?
Two rules
of thumb apply to outreach activities:
It's never too early to start letting people know about your LFG energy project. The sooner you publicize your project, the more time
you'll have to get people acquainted with your efforts and excited about
the positive impacts the project will have.
From ground breaking to ribbon cutting, your LFG energy project
is big news! Keep your community and other stakeholders informed of your
project's development, even once it is up and running. As your project
comes on-line, you'll have many opportunities to share information and
show off your accomplishments.
 Earth
Day, April 22, is a great time to promote your LMOP participation.
Try to plan ahead. If you already have a lot of activities planned
for Earth Day, think about promoting your project during October,
which is Energy Awareness Month. |
Tips for Effective Communication about LMOP and
Landfill Gas Energy
The following tips can help you effectively communicate the benefits
of your LFG energy project and LMOP participation. Communications
Prep Steps offers further suggestions on how LMOP liaisons and communications
specialists develop outreach strategies and tools.
- Educate. Education is often the most important part
of communicating about your LFG energy project. Even if it
is second nature to you, many people in your community may not be familiar
with LFG energy and how it works. It may be necessary to explain
in detail what LFG is — that it is naturally generated
as waste decomposes — and how the gas is collected and converted
to energy. Some of the items in the Sample Tools
for LMOP Outreach can help you explain LFG energy concepts.
- Make it Personal. Engage your audience by showing
them how they will personally benefit from LFG energy projects.
Discuss benefits in terms of the local community and explain that supporting
your project means they are supporting an important community and environmental
initiative.
- Be Credible. Be specific about your environmental
achievements. Explain exactly what you are doing to help the environment,
how your project reduces methane emissions, why methane should be collected,
and how you are improving the environment around the landfill as well
as the global environment.
You can also leverage your relationship with EPA to increase credibility
for your project. Remind your audience that your LMOP participation represents
a voluntary commitment to work cooperatively with EPA to improve the environment.
Look for opportunities to leverage the support and credibility of other trusted
third parties as well (e.g., well respected environmental organizations that
recognize the benefits of LFG energy projects). If you find an organization
that could benefit from LMOP participation, see Join
LMOP for more information.
- Keep It Simple. Technical terms are often difficult
to understand. They may confuse readers, or worse, make readers skeptical.
Use plain English and take time to define terms. For example, many
audiences do not know that LFG can be used for energy. First
explain how LFG is produced and then how it can be used as
an energy resource. Then you can use the term "LFG energy" freely.
- Make It Tangible. Methane reduction and LFG energy may be difficult concepts for people to understand or fully
appreciate. By translating the processes and benefits into real-world
terms, your audience is more likely to get the message. Be sure to
emphasize the community benefits — which makes LFG energy
a great story. You may decide to offer site tours to make your project
more tangible to your audience.
Energy Recovery System: Equipment
that converts landfill gas to electricity, steam, or another
energy use.
Flare: A device that burns landfill
gas. Flaring landfill gas reduces odors, safety concerns, methane
emissions, and air pollution, but does not provide energy benefits.
Gas Collection System: System of wells
and piping used to bring landfill gas from the landfill to the
flare or energy recovery systems.
Gas Migration: The underground movement
of landfill gas from landfills to other areas within or outside
the landfill property, or the uncontrolled surface emissions
of landfill gas into the air.
Landfill Gas: Generated during the
natural process of bacterial decomposition of organic material
contained in municipal solid waste landfills. By volume, landfill
gas is about 50 percent methane and 50 percent carbon dioxide
and water vapor, and also contains small amounts of nitrogen,
oxygen, and hydrogen, less than 1 percent nonmethane organic
compounds, and trace amounts of inorganic compounds.
Landfill Gas Energy: Use of landfill
gas as a renewable energy source for fuel used in engines to
produce electricity, boilers to produce steam heat, compression
uses, pipeline quality gas (if upgraded by treatment), greenhouses,
and vehicle fuel.
Methane: One of the major constituents
of landfill gas, generated naturally as a by-product of waste
decomposition. Methane is colorless, odorless, explosive, and
a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
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