The county received a $1 million grant in early 2011 from the N.C. State Energy Office to turn the methane gas seeping out of the old landfill into an energy source and has been working since summer of that year to install the equipment and systems necessary to harness it.
Methane is a byproduct of decomposing trash and a volatile pollutant that contributes to global warming. The county would have been required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to somehow dissipate or otherwise use the gas even if it had not decided take on the alternative energy project.
Last year, the county drilled 21 gas extraction wells in the landfill to tap the alternative energy source. After the gas is converted to electricity, the power is sold to Haywood Electric Membership Corporation, which serves 25,000 customers in the county area, and is put on the electric grid.
Currently, the system is pulling methane from the landfill and putting it onto the power grid for six hours a day, Francis said. The county is closely monitoring the operations with the hopes of keeping it up-and-running 24 hours a day.
Here they are, books yammering for review: a hillock of books on the floor by the desk; more books stacked on the desk itself, squeezed between a basket of spectacles and a coffee cup filled with pens and pencils, the cup itself bearing Jefferson’s remark, “I cannot live without books;” two more books for review keeping company in the trunk of my car; a lone rider of a book on the arm of the sofa by the porch door.
