Alternative energy works for BMW

Though calls for the development of "alternative energy sources" abound from environmentalists and politicians, lots of folks doubt our nation's ability to significantly reduce its dependence on oil and coal. Yet one of our state's most prominent manufacturing facilities — the BMW plant in Greer — now gets more than three-fifths of its energy from methane gas generated at a landfill nine miles away. And with global oil prices likely to keep increasing over the long term, landfill-generated methane continues to emerge as a practical, energy-efficient and cost-efficient alternative to fossil fuels.

BMW officials report that the company saves at least $1 million a year by using that methane. But another significant measure of savings goes beyond BMW's bottom line: The amount of methane used by BMW reduces the plant's emissions of carbon dioxide by the same annual amount that would be emitted by 61,000 automobiles.

The landfill that's producing that power captures methane gas that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere and transforms it into electricity. The process: Microorganisms break down organic material (in this case, garbage), generating gas, of which up to 60 percent is methane. Landfill gas plants then collect that methane for electricity generation.

Waste Management, a Houston-based company, now runs 60 such landfills across the nation, including two in our state — the one in Spartanburg County that serves BMW and another in Kershaw County. And Waste Management officials announced this week that they plan to expand their "gas to energy" network with 60 new facilities over the next five years, including one in St. George and another in Jasper County.

This remarkable step forward for alternative energy in our state and beyond shows not just encouraging evidence of methane's marketplace potential, but of its capacity to reduce both greenhouse gases and U.S. dependence on foreign oil.