Post 47 in a series. When Green Turns Brown is an examination of a small town’s digester-energy project, in which Whitewater, Wisconsin would import other cities’ waste, claiming that the result would be both profitable and green.
Last week’s post looked at a description from 9.17.15 of the waste-importation plan. Earlier, on March 16, 2015, Whitewater’s City Manager, Cameron Clapper, described importing waste into the city, and supposedly generating methane from it, as “probably the greenest process we have in the city.”
The 9.17.15 description leaves doubtful the amount of methane that Mr. Clapper expects the project to generate, or even if that’s a genuine aim (as against making money from tipping – that is, dumping – fees.)
Today’s question is 291. All the questions in this series may be found in the Question Bin.
So, a simple question about methane:
291. How green, actually, is production of methane?
There’s a discussion about methane to consider later in this series, and the answer may surprise. Even assuming methane production were to take off, following widescale waste importation, would the contention that this is a green process (or by Mr. Clapper’s account would be the ‘greenest process’ in the city) actually withstand scrutiny?
If methane production would withstand scrutiny as a green process, then so withstanding would lend credence to Mr. Clapper’s claim.
If methane production wouldn’t withstand scrutiny as a green process, then its failure to do so would suggest Mr. Clapper is ignorant of the very subject about which he claims consistently, in several presentations, to have an understanding.
WHEN GREEN TURNS BROWN: Mondays @ 10 AM, here on FREE WHITEWATER.