Dillsboro North Carolina, June 19, 2012—European land fill gas experts Piotr Klimek and Nikola Maodus toured the Jackson County Green Energy Park recently to learn about the progress of landfill gas usage projects in America. Klimek, an engineer with the Polish Oil and Gas Institute and Maodus, a Ph.D. Candidate in chemistry at the University of Novi Sad were interested in the renewable energy efficiencies that are being achieved at the GEP with landfill gas.

Timm Muth, director of the GEP showed Klimek and Maodus the different parts of the GEP and how they all work together. When asked about similar projects in Poland Klimek said “we have no project like this. We just do electric generation. Its amazing to me that a small landfill gas operation can be used to create such beautiful glass and metal art.” Maodus said, “ Its a really great opportunity to learn because we don't have any renewable energy projects in Serbia. This is a perfect example of how a landfill gas project can contribute to the community and how landfill gas can be used in a creative way.”

Muth said, “I think its very telling that these gentlemen came from almost the other side of the world because over there no one's even contemplating doing micro-scale thermo-use projects like we have here because they've never been able to see one before. What we at the GEP have been able to do today is to help them 'think out of the box' on using landfill gas from small-scale landfills to become more efficient at using the total renewable energy that they have waiting to be used productively. This is a good indication that this is a technology whose time has come. It also demonstrates that people world-wide are starting to look differently at small-scale energy projects and not just at large, centralized energy projects.

The Jackson County Green Energy Park, creating art and community with renewable energy, is an award-winning, community-scale landfill gas project located in Dillsboro, NC, that uses landfill gas and other renewable energy resources to provide fuel for blacksmith forges and foundry, glassblowing studios, and greenhouses. For more information, visit http://www.jcgep.org