Landfill Gas Energy Benefits Calculator

The LFG Energy Benefits Calculator can be used to estimate direct, avoided and total greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, as well as environmental and energy benefits, for a landfill gas (LFG) energy project. For both electricity generation and direct-use projects, reductions of GHG emissions are derived from capturing and destroying landfill methane. GHGs are also reduced by the offset of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. Electricity generation projects displace CO₂ that would have otherwise been generated from fossil fuels burned at conventional power plants. For direct-use projects, the methane in LFG displaces fossil fuels and avoids CO₂ that would have otherwise been released.

The Calculator expresses reductions of methane and CO₂ in equivalent environmental and energy benefits. For example, the total 2023 benefits for a typical 3-megawatt electricity generation project using the national average AVERT value are approximately equal to any one of the following environmental benefits:

• Carbon sequestered by about 198,000 acres of U.S. forests in one year
• CO₂ emissions from nearly 920 railcars' worth of coal burned
• CO₂ emissions from more than 18.7 million gallons of gasoline consumed

and are approximately equal to the following energy benefit:

• Powering more than 1,900 homes

The total 2023 benefits for a typical direct-use project using 1,000 standard cubic feet of LFG per minute are approximately equal to any one of the following environmental benefits:

• Carbon sequestered by nearly 183,000 acres of U.S. forests in one year
• CO₂ emissions from more than 357,000 barrels of oil consumed
• CO₂ emissions from nearly 17.3 million gallons of gasoline consumed

and are approximately equal to the following energy benefit:

• Heating nearly 4,100 homes

Download the Calculator

Download the 2023 LFG Energy Benefits Calculator (xlsx) (198.64 KB)

Excel files can be viewed with the Free Microsoft Excel Viewer.