City of St. Cloud strikes oil, sort of

ORLANDO, Fla., - With gasoline prices rising and U.S. oil imports threatened by Middle East conflicts, the City of St. Cloud and Team Energy, Inc., an energy recovery company based in St. Cloud, have struck oil — in a manner of speaking.

Team Energy recently earned the competitive bid contract to recover methane gas from St. Cloud’s municipal solid waste landfill on 17th Street and convert it to compressed natural gas (CNG), which can power cars and trucks whose engines have been modified.

Don Wood, chief executive officer of Team Energy, said the landfill, which operated from 1965 until the city permanently closed the site in February 2004, contains some 1.7 million tons of solid waste.

As the organic material in the landfill decomposes, it generates approximately 536,000 standard cubic feet of landfill gas every day (0.536 MMscfd). Wood said St. Cloud has a 10 year supply buried in the landfill.

That gas contains about 50 percent methane — a greenhouse gas that is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Currently, the gas is burned off to prevent off site migration of odors and pollution of the atmosphere.

Team Energy plans to recover the methane and convert it to commercial use, Wood explained.

One local trucking company has already agreed it could use up to 75 percent of Team Energy’s CNG production, Wood said.

The City of St. Cloud also has an option to make use of the fuel, which burns cleaner than gasoline or diesel and saves the user about $1.50 per gallon. In California, the Napa Valley Train is powered by CNG, and Fiat, GM, Peugeot, Volkswagen, Toyota, and Honda all produce CNG powered cars for sale in Europe, Asia and South America.

“This is a win-win project,” said Hank Martin chief operating officer at Team Energy, “This is good for the environment, it’s good for the local economy, it’s good for the City of St. Cloud and it’s good for Team Energy,” Martin said.

Jim Bowie, site manager for the University of Central Florida Business Incubator in St. Cloud, said Team Energy was one of the first companies to join the Incubation program.

“Our mission is to grow jobs in our own backyard and this is a great example of doing just that,” Bowie said.

The City of St. Cloud is equally enthusiastic, said Veronica Miller, the City’s interim public service administrator.

“The project furthers the city’s efforts to develop “green” technologies and to help local employers accelerate their growth,” Miller said.

Wood said the St. Cloud project is the first of many Team Energy plans around the U.S. and their mission has enormous potential consequences: worldwide, humans generate more than 1.1 billion tons of waste annually, which could generate 24.5 quadrillion BTUs of energy.

That’s equivalent to about 10 percent of the electricity consumed annually.

The environmental benefits are just as eye catching. The St. Cloud project alone will reduce pollution that’s equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions of 8,200 cars or the CO2 emissions from 5.08 million gallons of gasoline.

About the UCF Business Incubation Program

Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Business Incubation Program has helped more than 160 emerging companies (including nearly 100 current clients) create over $800 million in annual revenue and more than 1,600 new jobs with an average salary of $59,000. With eight – and soon nine – facilities opened across the Greater Orlando community, the Business Incubation Program is a collaboration in economic development between the University of Central Florida, Orange County, the City of Orlando, Seminole County, the City of Winter Springs, The City of Sanford, Lake County, the City of Leesburg, Osceola County, the City of Kissimmee, City of St. Cloud, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council and will be adding Volusia County. For more information, please visit www.incubator.ucf.edu.