ATLANTA, Jan. 11, 2007- CIFAL Atlanta, an international training center for local authorities, received the “Endorser of the Year” award Wednesday from the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP).
The award recognized CIFAL Atlanta's efforts to promote landfill gas-to-energy projects around the world and was presented during the U.S. EPA's 11th Annual LMOP Conference and Project Expo held in Washington Jan. 9-10.
CIFAL Atlanta has twice partnered with LMOP to host training seminars on solid waste and landfill gas-to-energy. The first training session took place in LaGrange, Georgia, and examined the successful public-private partnership that the city brokered with InterfaceFLOR and Milliken & Company.
The most recent training session was held in September when more than 50 government authorities met at the University of California in Davis to learn more about greening their solid waste management practices. During the forum, delegates considered ways local governments could capture landfill gas emissions to use as a source of energy, which is LMOP's specialty. “LMOP is excellent at linking local governments to the resources and expertise they need to start landfill gas-to-energy projects,” said Alexander Mejia, executive director of CIFAL Atlanta.
In addition to capturing landfill gasses, many local governments also sell the energy to nearby consumers, which creates a new revenue stream for their communities.
“It offers city and county officials a way to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions while stimulating their local economies,” said Mr. Mejia. CIFAL Atlanta has organized best practice sharing forums on landfill gas to-energy projects for more than 150 public and private sector officials since its first forum on the topic in 2006.
Since the forums, seven participating local governments including ones in Alabama, California, Georgia as well as Brazil and India, have explored ways to implement such projects in their home communities.
CIFAL will continue to partner with LMOP in 2008, organizing landfill gas-to-energy forums for local level leaders in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador.
In addition to an awards ceremony and luncheon, the 11th Annual LMOP Conference and Project Expo brought together more than 400 public and private sector officials working on landfill gas-to-energy projects for industry-related networking, presentations and workshops. Visit http://www.epa.gov/lmop/ for more information.
About CIFAL Atlanta: CIFAL Atlanta, the International Center for Training of Local Authorities, was founded in 2004 by the City of Atlanta and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). It is the North American affiliate of the Decentralized Cooperation Program of UNITAR. Its purpose is to support local government officials in their efforts to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals. Since inception, it has worked with nearly 3,000 participants in 64 countries worldwide, with a particular emphasis on the Western Hemisphere. CIFAL Atlanta is one of 12 CIFAL centers around the world. In addition to environmental sustainability, CIFAL Atlanta's other programs focus on economic development, social development & quality of life issues and information technology.
Print to Page
Ask Diana about the Global Ecumenical Youth Movement
Meet the Newest Oikos Senior Fellow
Email to a Friend