The graduation ceremony held this spring for the Class of 2009 at the University of New Hampshire in Durham was powered by landfill gas.
Before 2,200 students received their diplomas on May 23, university president Mark Huddleston officially launched EcoLine, a project that captures methane gas generated at a landfill in Rochester, N.H., and transports it via a 12.7-mile pipeline to a cogeneration plant on the Durham campus. There, the gas is converted to energy that helps power the campus.
The university says it expected to receive up to 85 percent of the energy used on campus from the EcoLine project. The school spent about $49 million on the project and anticipates a payback within 10 years.
