BMW Manufacturing is to create a ‘Gas-to-Energy’ program to convert methane gas into hydrogen at its plant in Spartansburg, South Carolina.
Photo: BMW, Flydime

The goal of the program is to power the plant’s production vehicles with hydrogen fuel-cells. Among many benefits of the hydrogen fuel cell technology are a longer battery life, continuous power, and a quick recharge.

Locally-sourced methane gas already provides over 60% of the plant’s total energy requirements, says Inhabitat. This is the amount that BMW claims can account for a 92,000 tons per year reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, or the equivalent to planting over 23,000 acres of trees annually.  Transforming this resource into hydrogen is another important step in conservation and efficiency program.

“BMW’s landfill gas program has been a tremendous initiative for the plant,” says Josef Kerscher, president of BMW Manufacturing. “Using methane gas to power our plant is one example of our focus on environmentally-friendly production processes.”

To continue the ‘Gas-to-Energy’ program that was launched in 2002, BMW Manufacturing invested $12 million dollar into it. The plant is now outfitted with larger co-generating turbines, heat recovery boilers, and a specialized treatment system to remove pollutants from methane gas. By recycling methane gas, BMW is able to improve local air quality by lowering regional emissions of greenhouse gases.

In addition, BMW’s landfill project is the only project that co-generates electricity and hot water for use at an industrial location remote from the landfill.

BMW is also intended aims to develop a training program for other organizations to teach them how to run business in a sustainable way.

The company is officially sponsoring the 2012 London Olympic Games and has already presented its first Olympics vehicle, a bicycle.