EDUCATION: GLOBAL METHANE INVENTORY

Research Project 2: Trends in Landfill Emissions of Methane

Introduction

Specifications

2 to 4 weeks

This Project can easily be adapted to include a team of students and become a semester long project by increasing the number of countries/Regions to be studied.

Problem

How have methane emissions from landfills changed over time?

Background

People make trash (solid waste), some of which ends up in landfills. The composition of landfill trash varies from region to region and among the areas in a single region. Landfills in North America contain significant amounts of degradable organic carbon (the fuel for methane-producing bacteria) from paper. People in rural areas of developing countries produce little solid waste and build few landfills. For any region, urban people produce more solid waste per capita and landfills than people in rural areas. Population shifts from rural to urban areas are increasing at a rapid rate in many developing countries. Increases in urban population will result in greater methane emissions from landfills than similar rural populations increase. The rural population in many parts of the world, e.g. Asia, is significantly higher than the urban population. However, the rates of change of these populations are significantly different. Are urban populations growing faster than rural populations? Is there a trend toward greater increase in urban population compared to rural population in various regions of the world? This project will look at these questions and possible ramifications in methane emissions from landfills now and in the future.

Student Tasks

1. The student will prepare a background research paper on methane including:
   1. Major natural and anthropogenic sources.
   2. How methane is produced by each source.
   3. methane's role in the greenhouse effect.
2. The paper should also include a section on landfills including types of landfills, how methane is produced and what is done with that methane.
3. The student will collect and organize the data for urban and rural populations and landfill methane emissions for the countries/regions they have selected. They will produce graphs for the urban and rural population for 5-year intervals from 1970 to 2000 and use them to compare changes in these populations. The same will be done for landfill emissions.
4. The student will summarize what the patterns are and make predictions about methane emissions should the patterns continue.

Methodology

Part 1 - Trends in Population:

1. The student selects:
   One developed country such as the US, Germany or Japan, and one developing country such as China, Ethiopia or Brazil
   -OR-
   One developed region such as North America or Western Europe and one developing region such as Asia or Africa.
2. Find the urban, rural and total population for the sites you selected for each 5-year interval from 1970 to 2000 from FAO or GISS dataset.
3. Arrange the data in a table.
4. Graph the data as Urban Population and Rural Population and Total Population vs. Time for each site.
5. Analyze the historical trend for each site. What is happening to the urban populations compared to rural populations for each site? How might this affect the methane produced at each site?

Example:

The graph shows that although the rural population of Asia is much larger than the urban population for the entire time period, the difference between urban and rural population is getting smaller. This is due to the growth of rural population slowing and the growth of urban population growing at an increasingly faster rate. The total population appears to be increasing fairly constantly. Since urban populations produce more trash and therefore more landfill methane than rural populations, one would expect the amount of methane produced by landfills in Asia to be increasing at a rate faster than the increase in total population. One would expect this because the urban population is growing at a faster rate than the rural population.

Part 2 - Trends in Methane Emissions:

1. The student will obtain methane emissions from landfills from GISS dataset for the sites selected in Part 1.
2. Arrange the data in a table.
3. Graph the data as Methane vs. Time for each place.
4. Analyze the trend for each place. How does the trend in emissions compare with the hypothesis of Part 1?

Example:

The emissions rose at a steady rate until 1990. This followed the trend in total population. There was a more rapid growth in emissions from 1990 to 2000 as would be expected from the increased growth in urban population. This followed the trend in urban population as expected. If urban populations continue to grow at a faster rate than rural populations, the amount of methane produced by landfills in Asia will increase substantially at a faster rate.

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