I picked up this morning's Asheville Citizen-Times and was delighted to see that Buncombe County is converting landfill-produced methane gas into energy. And...selling it back to French Broad Electric Membership Cooperative at an estimated $500K a year.
I'm a new resident of the county - formerly from Florida - and it's so darn refreshing to live in a place that takes green seriously.
How did a county that is experiencing the same financial woes that affect local governments across the country, make this happen?
"The county used state and federal grants and a no-interest loan to cover the roughly $4.5 million cost of buying and installing the generator, and the network of wells and pipes that funnel methane gas to it and other components of the system."
Brilliant.
Here's the money quote from David Gantt, chairman of the County Board of Commissioners
“We can’t do like we’ve done in the past.”
Sorry this is a very short diary, but I thought it was important - and something kossacks can bring to their own local governments.