- Inflating air pollution levels are increasingly contributing to rising respiratory infections and mortality rates around the world
- A key source of air pollution is derived from methane emissions, released by organic waste products
- RNG has emerged as a solution by which captured methane can be turned into a carbon neutral energy source
- EverGen Infrastructure has rapidly emerged as one of Canada’s leading RNG suppliers, with an ambitious long-term growth plan
India’s capital, New Delhi is a teeming metropolis and home to upwards of 25 million people; it is also one of the most polluted cities in the world. In 2019, government authorities forecast that over 1.67 million people had passed away across the country due to air pollution – largely a result of acute respiratory infections, including lung diseases, COPD, asthma add bronchial infections. In Delhi alone, it is estimated that air pollution could contribute to as many as 30,000 fatalities per annum and driving $36.8 billion in economic losses. Yet, Delhi’s air pollution conundrum is not solely due to industrial activity and construction work, factors which have often been pinpointed as the primary contributors to India’s pollution problem. Rather, a major factor contributing to Delhi’s pollution woes is far closer to home – the cooking fuel used by millions of households across the city (https://ibn.fm/trzox). At least 100 million people across India today depend on cow dung cakes and other biomass sources for cooking; methane, the chief emission released by organic waste has been found to be nearly 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of trapping heat within the earth’s atmosphere (https://ibn.fm/upCmA).
According to the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”), global greenhouse gases must be cut by 25 percent to 50 percent from 2019 levels by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5-2 degrees Celsius – the central goal of the Paris Agreement. Methane accounts for approximately 30 percent of the increase in the global temperature since industrialization; last year, methane emissions rose to record levels for a second year in a row. In November 2021, amidst the COP 26 forum taking place in Glasgow, Scotland, 125 countries signed up to the Global Methane Pledge, with participants joining the pledge agreeing to take voluntary actions to contribute to reducing methane emissions by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030.
Renewable natural gas (“RNG”), a form of refined biogas, has emerged as a potential solution to global efforts towards arresting rising methane emissions. When organic waste decomposes, it naturally releases biogas – a greenhouse gas containing carbon dioxide and methane, into the atmosphere. Companies such as EverGen Infrastructure (TSX.V: EVGN) (OTCQX: EVGIF), a British-Columbia based natural gas operator, have made containing methane emissions their core corporate mission. Through a combination of acquiring, developing, building, owning, and operating a portfolio of RNG, waste-to-energy and related infrastructure projects, EverGen has looked to combat climate change and help the communities within which it operates to strive for a more sustainable future.
EverGen Infrastructure’s RNG is derived from biogas, which is captured from decomposing organic waste found in landfills, food waste, agricultural waste matter and wastewater treatment plants; the waste feedstock is supplied to an anaerobic digester which in turn contains bacteria that breaks down organic matter in the absence of oxygen. The resulting biogas is captured and cleaned to create carbon neutral or carbon negative RNG, which can be piped through the existing North American gas pipeline grid. Meanwhile, the liquid and solid digestate matter which results as a byproduct of the RNG production process can be recycled into fertilizer form.
The company has recently elaborated on its ambitious growth plan, publicizing its goal to own over 20 RNG-generating facilities across Canada within five years; meanwhile and with four revenue generating RNG assets already in operation, the company reiterated their ambition to grow their cumulative gross RNG generating capacity to 480,000 gigajoules of energy per annum going forward – the equivalent of providing clean energy to nearly 90 million households. Through their operations, EverGen seek to both, reduce carbon emissions and organic waste whilst providing homes and businesses with a novel source of renewable energy.
“We are a renewable natural gas energy company. We’re a developer, owner and operator of projects that take organic waste and convert that organic waste into renewable energy in the form of renewable natural gas RNG,” stated Chase Edgelow, Co-Founder and CEO of EverGen. “If you look back at the benefits of bringing in other sources of energy 20 years ago, there wasn’t one silver bullet for the electrical grid to be as renewable as it is today, with wind, solar and hydro,” he continued. I think renewable natural gas can hold its own, and at the same time solve a massive waste problem and emissions problem from waste.”
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.EverGenInfra.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to EVGIF are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/EVGIF
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