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When a group of third-graders came to visit the Jackson County Green Energy Park (JCGOP) recently,
one of the children asked JCGEP Director Timm Muth ͞Why don͛t more people do this?͟

͞This͟ is one of the best examples of turning lemons into lemonade that you will find.

In the late 1990s a landfill near Dillsboro, North Carolina was closed and local residents were faced with
a dilemma. The small town in the Smoky Mountains had to decide how they would cope with methane
emanating from the landfill. Since the landfill was too small to fall under the purview of the
Environmental Protection Agency, the decision was entirely their own.

Local officials decided to explore the growing movement in Western North Carolina to use methane
from landfills as an energy source. In order to take advantage of this opportunity a pipeline from the
landfill would have to be linked to neighboring businesses, a cost that would be significant and therefore
negate the money that would be saved by using methane.

Knowing that the area had a thriving arts community and was a popular tourist stopͶparticularly for
residents of the Atlanta area three hours to the southͶofficials decided to build artisan studios on the
site and use extracted methane to heat it.

It was around this time that Muth, a former engineer who owned a bike shop in the area, was brought
on as a consultant. It was then that Muth and other officials learned that one of the risks of being on the
cutting edge is that there are very few experts on what you are trying to do. Fortunately, there was a
similar project already underway about an hour and a half to the north in Burnsville.

Once the necessary expertise was acquired, holes were drilled and perforated pipe was installed. A
three foot layer of clay covered the landfill and facilities for artists were built. The space was soon
rented out to glass blowers, potters and black and metal smiths. To the uninformed, the property, which
was opened in the fall of 2006, looks like any other artist͛s studio.

At its peak, the system provides 40 cubic feet of gas per minute with a five horsepower engine. This
translates to 1.2 million BTUs or roughly the same amount of heat being produced from 20 residential
heaters.

The benefit to the environment? Over the course of a year the JCGEP saves the equivalent of over
11,000 barrels of oil. The money saved pays for the administrative costs of the system.

Muth, who is now full time, tracks the system with a monitor that measures temperature and pressure.
Since it is basically a biological system it is in constant change according to Muth. ͞Our challenge is in
understanding how to manipulate our control variables to maximize our BTU output without sacrificing
the health of the landfill.͟
Over the longer term, JCGEP will have to adapt, since the life of methane from landfill sites is about 15
years. Local citizens will eventually be able to convert household waste into the organic materials that
create methane, thanks to a system that will speed up the conversion process.

So, to go back to the third-grader͛s question, why don͛t more people do this? The biggest reason is the
lack of expertise. Muth is doing what he can to change that, having hosted visitors from 12 states and
India, Ukraine and Brazil, all of whom are interested in learning more about the system at JCGEP.

But there is also the matter of willingness. Muth says, ͞Small communities like ours have to take the
lead on these opportunities. It͛s good from an investment standpoint because it saves money and
creates jobs. It͛s a potential gold mine.͟

Sources:

Phone Interview with Timm Muth on 3 June 2010.

http://www.jcgep.org/about.html