A new environmental partnership between Auburn University and Fultondale could provide municipalities to convert green waste into energy. What’s more, the stuff they're using to make energy could be right in your back yard.
Auburn researchers were in Fultondale to display their plan for using the city's tree limbs and grass clippings as a source of renewable energy, more-so, electricity. Environmentalists expect the process to expand nationwide.
"The green waste, the urban biomass goes into a landfill. Well, there's probably another use for that then just burying it in a landfill. So, this is really their vision. They came to us and said let's team up,'' says Steve Taylor, director of Auburn’s Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts.
During the process, wood chips are broken down to a gas. That gas is then filtered into an engine that drives an electrical generator.
Fultondale is one of several Alabama communities in the Auburn Energy Partners Program. Other participating cities include Enterprise and Gadsden.
