Turning a garbage problem into a green solution

The greenhouse gases rising from decomposing garbage in a landfill on a North Carolina mountaintop may help heat a new greenhouse for college students studying horticulture -- and reduce global warming.

The capture of methane from the Mount Herman Landfill represents the first fruit of a national partnership between Greenhouse Gas Services and Google, the Internet search company that is building a $600 million computer data center in Western North Carolina.

The companies plan to co-develop projects that reduce greenhouse gases and generate carbon credits.

"Turning a problem into a solution, that is what we are trying to accomplish," said Eliah Gilfenbaum, an energy analyst at Google. "Methane gas reclamation from some of North Carolina's landfills represents an important step forward in creating clean, renewable and homegrown energy sources."

Landfill gas is being tapped as an alternative energy source as utilities seek to increase their purchase of green energy to meet new state renewable energy requirements.

Wake County has installed a gas collection system in the recently closed North Wake Landfill. It pipes the gas to Mallinckrodt Inc., a chemical manufacturer, to supplement its natural gas in operating boilers.

Last month, Duke Energy announced plans to use methane from the city of Durham's old landfill to generate electricity, starting next year.

Google is advancing the estimated $165,000 cost to build a 4,000-square-foot greenhouse, which will be located near the landfill in Caldwell County. The greenhouse will serve the community college landscaping and horticultural program, county officials said.

"Simply put, the county can realize a way that the methane is not dispersed into the air at no cost," said Bobby White, Caldwell County manager.

In exchange for financing the greenhouse, Google will receive carbon credits from the methane gas as part of its voluntary corporate goals to be more environmentally friendly.

"We are investing in projects that generate these credits and using these credits to offset our carbon footprint," Gilfenbaum said. "We are trying to bring this global commitment close to home to communities where we have these operations."

Google is building its computer data center on 215 acres in Caldwell County. The centers help process its burgeoning Internet search queries, e-mail and video services.

Greenhouse Gas Services, a Virginia company, will design, build and operate the gas recovery system at the landfill. It estimates it will capture about 120,000 tons of gas over 10 years. The company records the amount of methane gas being recovered from the landfill and supplies U.S. companies with independently verified greenhouse gas credits.

Simply burning off the methane converts it to a much less potent greenhouse gas, producing carbon credits. But the project designers hope to generate both credits and alternative energy. The county plans to work with Google and Greenhouse Gas Services to use the methane to heat the greenhouse.

Reach Wade Rawlins at wade.Rawlins(at)newsobserver.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com