City of LaGrange & Milliken Harvest Greener Energy
LaGrange, GA, August 10--The City of LaGrange, Georgia will launch an innovative program harvesting gas from the community landfill in September.
The first customer to draw methane from the pipeline will be Milliken Carpet, which will purchase 80 percent of the rapidly renewable gas generated. Initially Milliken will replace 30 percent of its natural gas consumption with this alternative energy source.
"Methane burns cleaner and greener," said David Beard, Milliken's Director of Energy Resources. "We looked at solar energy and other sources, but only methane had the power output comparable to natural gas. Milliken is the only textile manufacturer to be certified Cleaner and Greener and we are continually looking at ways to renew and reduce while offering quality products manufactured in a safe environment."
As a municipality, The City of LaGrange is an early adopter in overseeing a project of this type and views it as feather in its cap. According to Patrick Bowie, Director of Utilities, City of LaGrange, "There is no downside for the community. The net revenues will offset property taxes, less methane will be released into the atmosphere; industrial customers will have a source of green energy and the city is using the landfill space much more efficiently."
In the U.S. landfills are the single largest source of methane. Milliken has partnered with the city throughout the innovative process that began in 2002 after the city made the decision to upgrade to the new federal standards. Harvesting methane with vertical expansion cuts down on the costs for developing a new landfill without expanding the footprint. Locating a new site could have taken 10-12 years with a conservative estimate of $300,000 per acre to develop. The current program should serve the city another 25 years.
