Achieving Zero Net Energy Utilization at Municipal WWTPs: The Gloversville-Johnstown Joint WWTP Experience

Electricity constitutes between 25 and 40 percent of a typical wastewater treatment plant's (WWTP) operating budget (New York State Energy Research & Development Authority, 2008) and is second typically to only labor costs. In the 1970's the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) began promoting energy conservation in WWTPs through the Grants Regulations and Procedures, Revision of part 40 CFR 30.420-6 (US EPA, 1978) which required recipients of grant monies to participate in the National Energy Conservation Program. Since that time, energy conservation at WWTPs has been advanced by electrical utilities, additional federal and state agencies, and utilities with a progressive vision or facing a financial crisis. Today, the vision is not only energy conservation at WWTPs but achieving net zero energy utilization at WWTPs. This paper summarizes a case study of a WWTP that is striving for energy self-sufficiency.