NEW YORK, July 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Improved systems and practices could cut landfill methane emissions in half while generating revenue for operators, a report released today by the NGO Energy Vision finds.
The report, “Leading with Landfills: The Immense, Cost-Effective Potential of Advanced Technology to Reduce Methane Emissions at Landfills Nationwide,” models impacts and costs of the three “advanced landfill tech” options:
- adding real-time monitoring and automated tuning equipment to landfill gas collection and control systems (GCCS);
- early action to install GCCS at working faces where methane emissions are often highest; and
- installing new GCCS at high-emitting landfills that don’t yet have them.
These options are feasible today for nearly 900 municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills nationwide, yet only a fraction are implementing them. The report finds that if all these landfills adopted them, it would cut US MSW landfill emissions 49% and cut total US methane emissions 7.2%, at an estimated cost of $8.35 per metric ton of CO2e abated.
For comparison, plugging methane leaks in low-output oil and gas “stripper wells” could cut US methane emissions 10.7% but costs twice as much — about $19/MT CO2e. Advanced landfill tech costs much less than most other GHG reduction approaches, pays for itself rapidly, and yields robust returns, the Energy Vision report found. Adopting it widely would require investment of $1.3 billion in capex plus $250 million in opex. Annually, it would capture enough methane to produce 93 million MMBTU of renewable natural gas (RNG), boosting the national RNG supply nearly 70% and generating annual gross revenues of $1.86 billion.
“This is the first real, quantitative assessment of the costs and impacts of advanced landfill tech, and the results are surprising,” said report author Michael Lerner, Energy Vision’s Director of Research and Publications. “They show that just with the current economics and incentives, the business case for this approach is remarkably compelling, and emerging state policies could make it even stronger. At a time when funding and policy support for some clean energy sources and GHG reduction approaches are getting rolled back, advanced landfill tech is poised to roll forward. It makes sense as both a cost-effective way to cut US methane emissions deeply and a smart investment landfills can make to generate additional revenue.”
Source: Energy Vision
Contact: Stephen Kent, skent@kentcom.com, 914-589-5988
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SOURCE Energy Vision
