DAMASCUS, Syria, July 22 (UPI) -- Extracting methane from landfills in Syria will help the country cut its greenhouse gas emissions substantially, environmental affairs official said.
Syrian Environmental Affairs Minister Kaukab al-Sabah Dayah said her country was working under mechanisms defined by the international community to cut its greenhouse gas emissions.
She said Syria would work to advance a green energy economy in order to improve energy efficiency in the country by extracting methane from landfills, the official Syrian Arab News Agency reports.
The Japanese engineering company Shimizu Corp. is working on landfill sites in Aleppo and Homs to examine methane gas extraction. Gas produced by the decomposition of organic material is readily available as an energy source.
The minister said Syria could cut its greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 1.7 million tons within 14 years through the use of methane gas produced in landfills.
