Volunteer Team

Launched in April 2010, Mount Everest Biogas Project founders Dan Mazur and Garry Porter each had first-hand experience of Mount Everest and the environmental impact of untreated climber’s waste being dumped at Gorak Shep, a remote community in Nepal located along the trail to Mount Everest Base Camp.

Dan Mazur has guided Mount Everest climbers for more than 20 years and spends six months a year in Nepal and Tibet. Garry Porter is an engineer by trade and a retired Boeing program manager.

In 2012, Mount Everest Biogas Project expanded its engineering team and began tackling the human waste issue by setting out to design an unprecedented biogas system. With volunteers from a range of professional industries, Mount Everest Biogas Project is affiliated with the Seattle chapter of Engineers Without Borders and Architects Without Borders.

Mission Statement
Mount Everest Biogas Project’s mission is to deploy a visionary solar-powered biogas system capable of operating at extreme high-altitude environmental conditions, eliminating the hazardous dumping of untreated human waste.

Helping preserve the Mount Everest region, Mount Everest Biogas Project’s pilot project in Gorak Shep (elevation 5,180m/17,000ft) will be a first-of-its-kind, ensuring the safe disposal of human waste generated by climbers at Everest Base Camp. In addition, the system will provide direct and indirect benefits to the people of Nepal in the form of environmentally safe products: a clean burning renewable energy source (methane gas) and an odorless nutrient-rich effluent that may be used as fertilizer.

Long term, Mount Everest Biogas Project sees additional opportunity to replicate this project and deploy the technology in other remote high altitude locations around the world. Hundreds of areas can also benefit from this technology design to improve the lives of local communities and the environment by reducing pollution, deforestation, health risks and costs to obtain usable fuel sources.

Vision
Beginning with simple off-the-shelf technology systems already widely established and readily available in Nepal, Mount Everest Biogas Project has designed a new solution that accommodates the harsh conditions and fragile infrastructure in the remote villages surrounding Mount Everest.

Mount Everest Biogas Project’s technology is based on a common anaerobic biogas digester, a system that uses microorganisms to break down waste and produce biogas. Mount Everest Biogas Project’s modified design has been under scientific study and design evolution since 2010.

Mount Everest Biogas Project’s Basis of Design document has been extensively peer reviewed by outside technical firms in the engineering community. In addition, the technology has proven technically feasible for its effectiveness in converting human waste in extreme temperature conditions via lab testing at Kathmandu University.

Mount Everest Biogas Project’s immediate vision is to construct this customized biogas digester system in the highest altitude village, Gorak Shep, located just below Everest Base Camp. Mount Everest Biogas Project’s design will utilize 100% of the human waste created at Everest Base Camp.

Long term, Mount Everest Biogas Project could expand operations in Nepal to increase the region’s capacity for tourism in a sustainable way. Local leaders and members of the Gorak Shep Teahouse Owners Association expect the prototype biogas system will lead to others once it has been proven. The high-altitude biogas system will allow the region to bring in more trekkers and climbers without an increase in pollution or risk to water quality in the surrounding regions.

In recent years, Mount Everest has received international press about the pollution on the mountain. The biogas system would be an important step to restore the mountain to its natural condition while allowing the climbing community to enjoy its beauty and bounty.

The Team

Dan Mazur

Nepal Liason Manager

Dan holds a PhD degree in Urban Planning. Through the Mount Everest Foundation for Sustainable Development in Nepal and Tibet (MEFSD), he has built schools and health clinics for local families in remote districts of Nepal. He has also summited Mount Everest multiple times and is employed by Summit Trek where he leads climbing and walking trips to Nepal and Tibet.

Garry Porter

Project Manager

Garry is a retired Boeing Company Program manager with over 34 years of engineering and program management experience. He holds a Master of Science degree in engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology and an undergraduate degree in civil engineering from the University of Nebraska.

Nate Janega

Sr Project Engineer

Nate earned his Masters Degree from the University of Washington’s Civil Environmental Engineering Department. His interest in biogas technology started while earning his Bachelor of Arts in Biological Chemistry from Grinnell College.

Michael Marsolek

Research

Michael is an Asst. Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Seattle University, with a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University. He has experience operating lab-scale bioreactors and testing biogas potential of different digester feeds.

Joe Swain

Lead Architect

Joe is an architect based in Seattle. He has worked on biogas-integrated projects in Massachusetts and Washington and has design experience in India and Sri Lanka. He holds a Masters degree in Architecture from the University of Washington and a B.A. in Mathematics from Brown University.

Kirk Robinson

Construction and Subcontract Lead

Kirk is the Founder and Principal in Charge of Construction Management Services for The Robinson Company. He has more than 30 years of experience in construction management services for large capital-intensive projects in excess of $400M USD. He offers in depth knowledge of budgeting, construction management and scheduling.

Brenda Bednar

Social Media Coordinator

Brenda is as a nurse-midwife at Swedish hospital, with prior work experience as a project manager and in non-profit fundraising. She has a Bachelor of Science in sociology from the University of Wisconsin and an M.S.N. from Yale University. Her interest in the Mount Everest Biogas Project led her to join the May 2016 site visit, documenting the team’s journey to Everest Base Camp.

Mingma Tenzing Sherpa

In-Country Liaison

Mingma was born and raised in Namche Bazar, Nepal and has been deeply involved with the project since its inception. He is an influential member of the Mount Everest National Park Buffer Zone Committee with a track record of participation in environmental and cultural preservation projects in the Khumbu Valley. He is a devout Buddhist with a degree from Kathmandu University.

Ann Siqveland

Public Relations and Fundraising Manager

Ann is a renewable energy project developer. With ten years of experience in utility-scale wind and solar energy project development, she serves as Development Director at OneEnergy Renewables while her previous experience includes positions with global companies, EDP Renewables and EDF Renewable Energy. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the University of Montana.

Nick Ueland

Project Marketing Manager and Web Page Developer

Nick is the chief safety officer at Stone Gardens, Inc. Climbing Gyms. He holds a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Washington.

Affiliated Organizations

Mount Everest Biogas Project in the News

Think Progress

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