Progress & News
This page was a long chronological timeline. Recommend breaking into two parts, a "Press Coverage" section up top, then a "Project Timeline" below.
Intro
The Mt. Everest Biogas Project was initiated in April 2010 by Dan Mazur and Garry Porter. Both had personal knowledge of Mt. Everest and the environmental impact of the climbers' waste being dumped at Gorak Shep. Dan has guided Mt. Everest climbers for more than 20 years and spends 6 months a year in Nepal and Tibet. Garry is an engineer and a retired program manager from Boeing. Dan had knowledge of biogas digesters operating throughout Nepal and Garry had a background in making programs happen.
The question posed in 2010 by Dan was: could existing biogas digester systems be implemented in the harsh atmosphere of Gorak Shep? And so, the Mt. Everest Biogas Project was formed using an all-volunteer team from the Seattle area to answer the question: is there a sustainable solution to the human waste issue on Mt. Everest?
Press Coverage
Mount Everest Biogas Project Featured on CNN August 5, 2018 — CNN recently aired a piece looking at the human waste issues on Everest that featured the efforts of the Mt Everest Biogas Project. The story was featured on air as well as the CNN homepage!
Link: https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/05/health/mount-everest-biogas-project/index.html
Mount Everest Biogas Project Featured in Prime Time Televised News Segment in Seattle, WA January 14, 2018 — King 5 News based out of Seattle featured the Mount Everest Biogas Project in a prime time news segment.
Kitsap Sun Reports on Mount Everest Biogas Project and Co-founder Garry Porter January 8, 2018 — The Kitsap Sun, a USA Today owned local news publication, featured Garry and the project.
EarthFix Article Highlighting Mount Everest Biogas Project, Featured on KUOW November 25, 2017 — The article was picked up and published by KUOW, highlighting the growing waste issue on Mount Everest and the project's solution.
Link: http://kuow.org/post/mount-everest-has-poop-problem-team-seattle-wants-clean-it
Mount Everest Biogas Project Featured on EarthFix November 20, 2017 — Featured in an on-air segment of the environmental news program Earthfix, including a short interview with co-founder Garry Porter.
Audio: http://nwpr.org/post/mount-everest-has-poop-problem-team-seattle-wants-clean-it
Article: http://earthfix.info/news/article/mount-everest-poop-problem/
First-of-its-Kind Mount Everest Biogas Project Wins Prestigious Mountain Protection Award from the UIAA October 26, 2017 — Honored among twenty-two nominees from around the world, the project won the 2017 Mountain Protection Award (MPA). "Every one of these proposals has the potential to make a difference in preserving and conserving the precious mountaineering so important to us... this recognition is like a dream come true for the team." — Garry Porter, co-founder
Mount Everest Biogas Project Nominated for UIAA MPA Award October 6, 2017 — Recognized by the UIAA as a nominee for the 2017 Mountain Protection Award, among twenty-two nominees worldwide.
Project Timeline
It's Official! MEBP is an official 501(c)(3) Non-Profit! Our team was officially recognized as a 501(c)(3) entity at the end of December 2016! We can now move forward with the mandatory fundraising for implementing the project at Gorak Shep.
2015 — Seattle chapter of Architects Without Borders (AWB) initiates design for shelter over the digester One of the final technical design hurdles is the design of the structure over the biogas digester to maintain an acceptable atmospheric environment and provide storage and work space for the operators of the system. The Seattle chapter of Architects without Borders (AWB) has volunteered their members' time and talent to this design.
2015 — Lab/bench testing of blue barrel waste in conjunction with Kathmandu University Dr. Michael Marsolek of Seattle University spent a month in Kathmandu meeting with Kathmandu University to set up a program to conduct lab/bench tests with samples of human waste from Everest base camp. Testing confirmed the performance modeling done in 2011, and deepened the collaboration between the Seattle team and the people of Nepal.
2015 — Submitted grant proposal to UIAA The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA) invited the project to submit a proposal for their annual environmental award, the UIAA Mountain Protection Award.
2014 — Completed new revised design, documented in Basis of Design (BOD) document It was the intent of the design team that the biogas system design be transparent so it could be replicated in other locations. As the design evolved, all assumptions and calculations were documented in the Basis of Design (BOD) document, vetted by outside experts in the Seattle area.
2014 — Presentation to the American Alpine Club In July, the Mt. Everest Biogas Project was invited to present at the American Alpine Club's 3-day Sustainable Summits Conference, focused on shaping and sharing environmentally sustainable solutions for mountain areas.
2013 — Gorak Shep design requirements released to the design team Early in the design process, stated requirements for the biogas system needed to be formalized so the whole team was designing to the same parameters.
2013 — Site survey and Gorak Shep community meeting on proposed system A site survey at Gorak Shep was conducted by senior project engineer Nate Janega, to meet with Gorak Shep community leaders and present a preliminary design of the biogas system.
2013 — Meetings with Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) and Biogas Sector Program (BSP)–Nepal SPCC is an NGO made up of local people of the Khumbu, responsible for environmental protection of Mt. Everest Park. The project briefed them on the feasibility design and maintains communication with them for ongoing support.
2012 — Biogas digester heat loss modeled Long-term atmospheric weather data for Gorak Shep was acquired from international satellite sources (TMY2) and used as input for the heat loss analysis. Heat loss under worst-case 0°C external temperature, maintaining 30°C internal temperature, was calculated at 100 Watts — an amount that can be overcome with current solar panel technology.
2011 — Biogas performance modeled Several digester models were investigated before utilizing an anaerobic well-stirred digester model developed by Paul Harris, University of Adelaide. Sample output showed that an 8 m³ digester fed human waste diluted 3:1 with water, maintained at 20°C, would produce 2.1 m³ of biogas/day. Modeling confirmed that maintaining internal temperature between 20–30°C is the critical factor, driving the need for extensive weather data and heat loss modeling.
2010 — Memorandum of Understanding signed with BSP-Nepal A Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Biogas Sector Program (BSP) of Nepal and the Mt. Everest Biogas Project to work together on this important project for the people of Nepal.
2010 — Mt. Everest Biogas Project Initiated The Mount Everest Biogas Project officially launched, building on the success of other biogas projects in Nepal with the added challenges of an installation at 17,000ft elevation utilizing only human waste. Approved by the Engineers Without Borders – Puget Sound Professional Chapter.
Note for Nate: several timeline entries reference PDF attachments (Basis of Design doc, site survey interviews) that lived in wp-content/uploads - these PDFs were not recovered from the database backup. If you have copies of these files separately, they should be re-attached to this page.