The City of Phoenix Water Services Department is pleased to announce that the Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) facility at the 91st Avenue Wastewater Treatment Plant received honorable mention in Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas Awards in the energy category. This facility is the largest wastewater treatment biogas-to-renewable natural gas facility of its kind in the United States.
The gas is a result of the natural breakdown of organic matter in the wastewater treatment process. Prior to this operation, the majority of this gas was burned off using flares. Through this new effort, 600,000 cubic feet of gas will be treated annually and transferred to a nearby commercial gas pipeline, where it will be sold on the open market as green energy.
The carbon-neutral RNG produced at this facility offsets approximately 44,671 metric tons of CO2 per year — the equivalent of taking roughly 70,452 passenger vehicles off the road for one year!
Now in its fourth year, the World Changing Ideas Awards showcase how some of the world’s most inventive entrepreneurs and companies are addressing grave global challenges. A panel of eminent judges selected winners and finalists from a pool of more than 3,000 entries across transportation, education, food, politics, technology and more.
“There seems no better time to recognize organizations that are using their ingenuity, resources, and, in some cases, their scale to tackle society’s biggest problems,” says Stephanie Mehta, editor-in-chief of Fast Company. “Our journalists, under the leadership of senior editor Morgan Clendaniel, have uncovered some of the smartest and most inspiring projects of the year.”
About the World Changing Ideas Awards
World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company’s major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners, finalists, and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With a goal of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to start working on solving the problems that affect us all.
