News For You: UCLA Institute of the Environment

UCLA Institute of the Environment
Everything We Do Now Matters

IoE generates knowledge and provides solutions for regional and global environmental problems and educates the next generation of professional leadership committed to the health of our planet.

Through its local, national, and international programs, the IoE employs innovative, cross-disciplinary approaches to address critical environmental challenges - including those related to climate change, water quality, air pollution, biodiversity, and sustainability - with the goal of achieving stable human coexistence with the natural systems on which society depends.

IoE Resources

Southern California Environmental Report Card
~ UCLA faculty analyzes current environmental issues
Spring 2010: Biodiesel Fuels
Winter 2010: Promoting Green Innovation

Clean Tech LA Video Series
CleanTech Los Angeles (CTLA) is a multi-institutional collaboration between the City of Los Angeles, the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, UCLA, USC, Caltech, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Central City Association, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, Los Angeles Business Council (LABC) and the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) to establish Los Angeles as the global leader in research, commercialization, and deployment of clean technologies.

Climate Change Portal
entry point to the vast array of experts, research, and activities that UCLA is engaged in.

IoE Newsletter: Spring 2010
The Hot Spot
Programming for the Planet
Natural Invention

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News For You: AERS

Smart2BeGreen: Onion Fuel
. . . from Smart Tips
August 26, 2009

Onions may make you cry,
But they can be a fuel supply.
Onion juice ferments you see,
Waste becomes energy!

Crying All the Way to the Bank

In Oxnard, California, Gills Onions, a national onion processor and distributor, has constructed an Advanced Energy Recovery System (AERS) that converts 100% of their onion waste into ultra-clean renewable energy and a high-value cattle feed. The AERS creates enough methane biogas to power two onsite 300-kilowatt fuel cells, which operate the plant's refrigeration units and lighting.

• Like a Big Stomach: Juice extracted from onion waste is sent to ferment in an anaerobic digester that contains bacteria from an Anheuser-Busch beer brewery. The bacteria feast on the carbohydrates in the fermenting juice and produce combustible methane gas.

• Cost Savings: The AERS provides annual savings of $700,000 in electricity costs, $400,000 in disposal costs, and has lead to more than $3 million in government and power company incentives.

• GHG Reductions: The AERS eliminates up to 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions per year.

• Waste-To-Energy: Gills Onions is one of many companies using their biomass waste to create energy. Other types of biomass waste employed include animal manure, vegetable oil, whey, municipal solid waste, and industrial wastes.