FY22 Energy Metrics

Each year MEAC collects and presents municipal energy data to City Council. The slides below summarize MEAC’s history since it was founded in 2010, upcoming projects, as well as FY22 energy data. One thing to note about the FY22 numbers is that for the first time we have more accurate metering of biogas at the Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) (previously the biogas was estimated based on the volume of waste being treated). We also saw a major increase in both biogas production and use in FY21 when the recent Organics to Energy Phase 1 project was completed. The additional gas is being used to heat the WRRF buildings and digesters, and excess gas is flared. The biogas numbers shown in the charts include both heating and flared gas, since we don’t have accurate data yet to determine the proportion that is used for thermal energy (we hope to have this info in FY23).

As a result of the changes with biogas, overall energy consumption increased, but the overall percentage of renewable energy also increased (from 43% to 57% in one year) because biogas is considered a renewable energy source.