Road to Energy Neutrality – WERF is Paving the Way with a Focus on Biosolids Energy

Wastewater treatment is energy intensive, and the cost of energy typically ranks as one of the top two cost areas for a wastewater utility. The US EPA estimates that wastewater treatment consumes 3% of US power consumption. Striving for sustainable energy neutrality will have a major impact at both the local and global level. Energy neutrality will be achieved through a 3-pronged attack of energy demand reduction, energy conservation, and energy production. The neutrality equation cannot be balanced without a production component, and biosolids, which typically represent an energy “concentrate” containing the majority of the available energy value in raw wastewater, offer the key to sustainable energy production. The Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) has recognized the importance of achieving energy neutrality and the role that biosolids management will play, and has launched a major initiative to understand, map and communicate the emerging and available approaches (“roads”) that each utility can take to drive toward neutrality. The focus of the current effort is on developing baseline energy profiles for common wastewater processing configurations and documenting the proven practices of leading members of the wastewater/biosolids community, so that the resulting “road map” will be of immediate practical use for the community at large. This roadmap will be of particular interest to any wastewater utility striving for energy neutrality and seeking practical guidance on benchmarking, i.e., placing themselves on the map, and then charting their own course towards energy neutrality.