Edmonton will be home to the world's first industrial-scale facility to produce biofuels, primarily ethanol, from municipal solid waste -- a project estimated at $70 million. The City has signed a 25-year agreement with GreenField Ethanol, Canada's largest ethanol producer, and Enerkem, a leading biofuels technology company.

The plant will initially produce 36 million litres of biofuels per year and reduce Alberta's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by more than 6 million tons over the next 25 years, which is the equivalent of removing 12,000 cars from the road.


The City of Edmonton and the Government of Alberta, through the Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI), are contributing $20 million to this venture. Edmonton will also invest $50 million in a related processing facility and research center.

This partnership will enable the province to make a noted contribution to reducing greenhouse gases and become the first major city in North America to achieve a 90-percent residential waste diversion from landfill. This next-generation facility will also offer drivers a new choice in transportation fuels.


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