LANDFILL CAPTURES METHANE GAS TO POWER 2,500 HOMES IN PENNSYLVANIA

A new plant constructed by Pennsylvania Power & Light (PPL) Utilities is generating methane gas to power 2,500 homes in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. Methane is 21 times more potent than the carbon dioxide in automobile exhaust. "This renewable energy plant will generate electricity in an environmentally

friendly way," says PPL Renewable Energy President Mike Kroboth. Methane - which used to rise to the surface and escape into the air - is now captured in 60 underground wells and channeled through pipes to an on-site generation plant. Two massive yellow Caterpillar engines convert the fuel into electricity. It's the environmental equivalent of removing 27,000 cars from the road or planting 38,000 acres of new forest. The company controls more than 11,000 megawatts of generation in the United States.