BMW has begun recycling methane gas as an energy source for its Spartanburg facility. The recycled methane gas, drawn from the Palmetto Landfill near Spartanburg, will supply BMW with 25 percent of its energy needs.
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“This is a win-win for everyone. It avoids the need to vent methane directly into the air at the landfill. It yields significant amounts of clean energy. And, by avoiding 55,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, it results in cleaner, healthier air for everyone to breathe,” said Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christine Todd Whitman.
“BMW wants to do whatever it can to make Upstate South Carolina a better place to live,” said Dr. Helmut Leube, president of BMW Manufacturing Corp. “This project allows BMW to take a wasted source of energy and use it to generate electricity, which benefits the environment and area residents through lower emissions.”
BMW’s project is unique in that the methane gas is used to fuel four turbines at the BMW factory, which produce electricity and hot water.
BMW’s Landfill Gas-to-Energy Project supports the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) efforts in the Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP), which began in 1994 as a means of converting landfill gas into clean-burning, cost- effective, useable energy.
