The University of New Hampshire has launched EcoLine, a first of a kind landfill gas project that will pipe enriched and purified gas from Waste Management's landfill in Rochester to the Durham campus. By replacing the commercial natural gas as the primary fuel in UNH's cogeneration plant, the UNH will receive 80 to 85 percent of its energy from a renewable source.

onstruction began in August on a landfill gas processing plant in Rochester which will purify the gas, and on a 12.7-mile underground pipeline which will transport the gas from the plant to the university's Durham campus. UNH is expected to fuel its cogeneration plant with landfill gas by the fall of 2008. Estimated cost of the project, including the construction of a second generator at UNH, is $45 million.

Aside from reducing dependence on non-renewable fossil fuels, EcoLine will also help reducing the university's greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 67 percent below 2005 levels and 57 percent below 1990 levels. More details from this report and on Waste Management's landfill gas-to-energy initiative.

Photo: Waste Management