Skip to Main Content
University of Maryland Libraries Logo
RESEARCH GUIDES

ENSP 400: Capstone in Environmental Science and Policy

Research guide for ENSP 400: Capstone in Environmental Science and Policy

Direct Measurement of Landfill Methane Emissions in Maryland

Objective

  • To conduct a review and analysis of the systems and technologies that exist for conducting direct measurement of methane emissions from landfills and to determine the requirements for setting up a pilot project for direct measurement of these emissions in Maryland.
  • This work will inform CCAN’s efforts as it participates in Maryland’s ongoing rulemaking process on methane emissions from landfills and endeavors to gain a better understanding of what is really coming out of Maryland’s landfills in order to reduce those emissions.

Questions to Answer

  • What are the systems and technologies available and being developed for conducting direct measurement of landfill methane emissions at individual facilities?
  • Are there technologies in place for direct measurement of methane emissions in the oil and natural gas industry that could be transferable to the landfill sector?
  • Are there direct measurement pilot studies being conducted at landfills in the US? By EPA or private entities? In the EU? If so, where are these projects and how are these projects being conducted?
  • What are the requirements for conducting a direct measurement pilot study in Maryland?
    • Which landfill would be best suited for this project? (This could include looking at financial, technical, geographic suitability, but also sites where work would be most beneficial such as addressing EJ concerns)
    • How would it be funded? What sources of funding are available for such projects?

Image of the Scholl Canyon Landfill - Glendale, CA.

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scholl_Canyon_Landfill_-_Glendale,_CA.jpg.

The links below are useful resources that will provide background information for your research.

Search Tips

An asterisk (*) stands in for any group of letters 

SEARCHING: librar* 

FINDS: library, libraries, librarian

Quotation marks keep words together, and in order

“this is a phrase”    this is not

 

'AND' narrows your search and 'OR' broadens your search (see below)

AND/OR Boolean search diagram

    “methane emission”                “landfill”                        “methane emission”                    “methane emission”                              

                                                                                                      AND                                               OR

                                                                                                     “landfill”                                       "landfill”

                                                                                                 (fewer results)                              (more results)

Synonyms

Searching for synonyms of your keywords will ensure that you can find resources that are connected to your topic. Think through how else someone might refer to key concepts you are searching.

The databases below will be a good place to conduct literature searches to find peer-reviewed sources. You should search more than one database for a comprehensive search.

Google Scholar is search engine, not a database. It does not support advanced search functions or search strategies. It's good for finding individual citations, but less good for conducting research.

What is Grey Literature?

Grey literature is materials and research produced by organizations outside of the traditional commercial or academic publishing. These are considered good sources of information. Common information types include reports, working papers, government documents, white papers, etc. To find grey literature you will have to search individual websites and search engines.

The links below are a good starting point to find grey literature.