Landfill Gas

What is landfill gas?

Landfill gas consists primarily of methane and is produced when organic materials in large landfills decompose. Methane is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. Capturing methane and using it as fuel is a more sustainable alternative to letting the methane enter the atmosphere from the landfill.

What we're doing

We're involved in multiple landfill gas projects that convert waste emissions into electricity for customers. Here are some of the various landfill gas-to-electricity projects across our service territories:

Carolinas

• A Durham, N.C., project supplies electricity to approximately 1,900 residential customers.
• In Sampson County, N.C., we produce 12.8 megawatts (MW) of electricity from landfill gas.
• In New Bern, N.C., we convert landfill gas into 4 MW of electricity.
• A project in rural Buncombe County, N.C., produces 1 MW.
• We partner in a Greenville County, S.C., landfill gas-to-electricity project that can power roughly 2,000 homes each year.

Ohio

• We purchase approximately 1.5 billion cubic feet per year of methane that is produced and converted to natural gas at the Rumpke Sanitary Landfill north of Cincinnati. This total represents nearly 2% of the total natural gas we deliver to our customers each year.