Laserfiche WebLink
~i <br />Company provides all the fuel for that <br />equipment. Two energy specialists, Mike <br />Wareham and Don Barlow, are responsible <br />for the account. <br />Each day, Monday through Friday, <br />Wareham personally fills each piece of <br />equipment at the landfill site with B-11 <br />biodiesel to minimize the risk of spillage. If <br />a holiday falls during the week, he also fuels <br />on Saturday. <br />"The garbage doesn't stop," he said. "It's <br />amazing to watch the cell change over time, <br />even in just the past three months:' <br />Before joining Christian County Fanners <br />Supply, Barlow worked with the Waste <br />Management fuel account for another <br />company. Now he delivers gasoline, road <br />grade diesel fuel, and off-road diesel fuel to <br />the transfer station in Springfield three times <br />a week. <br />Tim Sutton, Christian County Farmers <br />Supply energy marketing manager, said he <br />enjoys working with Waste Management and <br />appreciates the value the company places on <br />supporting local businesses. <br />"That goes hand in hand with our <br />cooperative business model and it's built a <br />great relationship, working together to <br />support a common cause, in this case our <br />community," he said. <br />Waste Management's community support <br />extends beyond relationships with business <br />suppliers. It is taking its environmental <br />commitment one step further by providing a <br />heat energy source to Buckley Growers, a <br />four-acre commercial greenhouse located <br />near the landfill. <br />`As far as we know, we are the only <br />landfill facility anywhere to capture the heat <br />produced by the engines as they generate <br />electricity and turn that heat into something <br />beneficial," Erni said. "We won't be the only <br />one for lgng, though. We've had many <br />different groups tour our facility to see how <br />we do this." <br />Typically, the heat from the engines <br />would simply be released into the <br />atmosphere through large radiators, but <br />instead the cooling fluid from the engines is <br />directed to four heat exchangers. At the heat <br />exchangers, clean water is heated by the <br />cooling fluid to more than 200 degrees <br />~~: <br />ww w. Christi ancountyfs. com <br />vvww.wm.com <br />www.buckleygrowers. com <br />vrww.thinkgreen.com <br />www.greenopolis.com <br />h pr'1a3 <br />r` ~~' <br />Fahrenheit, piped approximately 700 feet to <br />the greenhouse, circulated through a radiant <br />heating system, and sent back to the heat <br />exchangers to be heated again. Enough heat <br />energy is produced that the greenhouse could <br />double in size and still have enough to meet <br />its needs, according to Niemann. <br />"The cost of heat is a huge expense for <br />greenhouse owners," said Lad Buckley, <br />director of sales at Buckley Growers. `At <br />certain times of the year, our floor heat is <br />between 80-90 degrees, and our upper level <br />heat can be as much as 160 degrees" <br />The family-owned greenhouse supplies <br />other greenhouses with starter plants, and <br />produces spring plants, fall mums, Easter <br />lilies, and poinsettias for florists and other <br />retailers. The major factor in their decision <br />to build in Taylorville was the availability of <br />heat energy from the landfill. <br />"Our relationship with Buckley Growers <br />is just the tip of the iceberg," Niemann said. <br />"If other landfills could create similar <br />facilities and encourage other energy- <br />intensive industries to locate nearby -for <br />example a foundry or a pottery kiln -that <br />energy could be harnessed and used instead <br />of wasted." <br />- Karen Jones <br />Spirit Jan. -Feb: 2009 4 <br />Buckley Growers employee <br />Betty Stewart prepares <br />cuttings for rooting at the <br />