Landfill gas, a serious contributor to global climate change, is made up of about 35% carbon dioxide and, more importantly, 50% methane which is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. Methane however is a valuable fuel.  When the landfill gas collection system installed at the Yancey/Mitchell landfill was activated it signaled the beginning of the development of the EnergyXchange Renewable Energy Center .  According to Shelley Cohen of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP), the project has become a “model for landfill methane projects around the country”.  A feasibility study funded by LMOP for the Yancey/Mitchell landfill and the small nearby Avery County landfill, revealed that together the two landfills had enough gas to heat 894 homes for at least 15 years.  The Blue Ridge Resource Conservation & Development Council put together a Landfill Methane Task Force including over 140 people from 40 agencies and groups. The Task Force determined end uses for the gas, identified operating partners, engaged local communities in the project, and identified resources crucial to project development.  Two major community needs identified were to develop new greenhouse cash crops for struggling local tobacco farmers, and to form a business incubator for “limited resource” potters and glass blowers.

The success of the EnergyXchange project has led to the current development of a second landfill gas project in nearby Avery County, where the gas will be used to fuel a large greenhouse, a Regional Forestry & Horticulture Center, a micro-turbine demonstration of “distributive generation” of electricity in partnership with Carolina Power and Light.

Two other landfill gas projects are in the planning stages in the Blue Ridge RC&D’s seven county area, and three other landfills are being investigated. In addition, inquiries have been received now from all around the country as the EnergyXchange project has indeed become “a model for others projects nationwide”.  Accomplishments of this project as of 2002 include:

§         $2.3 million in grants and in-kind contributions raised from the NC Energy Office, US DOE, EPA, NC Technological Development Authority, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, Golden LEAF Foundation, USDA Rural Development, and many others.

§         On schedule for greenhouse gas reductions in excess of 7500 tons of methane over 10 years – the equivalent of removing 21,000 automobiles from North Carolina highways. 

 §         30 horticultural apprenticeships completed, 3 full-time permanent jobs created at EnergyXchange 

 §         15 new native plant businesses started, 2 new glass and 5 pottery businesses started 

 §         Over 6000 visitors to EnergyXchange - 3 national, 2 state and 1 regional major awards earned.

A full page in the New York Times, a major news feature on CNN, dozens of magazine features including In Business, Hope, American Cities & Counties, Waste Age, Crafts Report.  Dozens of newspaper, radio, and television features and news spots.