 | |  Jenkins Brick Jordan Plant Landfill Gas Energy Project
 
| Location | Leeds, Alabama | | End User(s) | Jenkins Brick Company's Jordan Plant | | Sector(s) | Brick manufacturing | | Landfill(s) | Veolia ES Star Ridge Landfill, Inc. | | Landfill Size | 4.4 million tons waste-in-place (2006) | | Project Type | Direct Thermal (brick kilns) | | Project Size | 750 standard cubic feet per minute (scfm) | | Savings | Initially 40 percent of energy demands, ramping up to 100 percent later | | Environmental Benefits | Carbon sequestered annually by 20,200 acres of pine or fir forests, annual greenhouse gas emissions from 16,300 passenger vehicles, or carbon dioxide emissions from 206,400 barrels of oil consumed. Annual energy savings equate to heating 2,400 homes. Estimated emissions reductions of 0.0242 million metric tons of carbon equivalents. | | LMOP Partners Involved | CH2M Hill, Jenkins Brick, Perennial Energy, Veolia ES Solid Waste, Inc. |
 For the first time, a major U.S. manufacturing facility has been sited and built in proximity to a landfill specifically to use the landfill gas as fuel. The new Jenkins Brick Company's manufacturing plant (the Jordan Plant) in Leeds, Alabama, will use landfill gas to fuel its kilns, satisfying 40 percent of the plant's energy needs initially, with 100 percent projected in 10 years as the landfill grows.
The Jenkins Brick Company, headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama, has been using clean-burning landfill gas to fuel its Montgomery brick plant since 1998. The success of this project convinced Jenkins to build its next manufacturing facility to take advantage of local landfill gas. Jenkins Brick is one of only three brick manufacturers currently using this technology in the United States.
The Jordan Plant uses landfill gas obtained through a 6.5-mile-long pipeline that connects the plant to the Veolia Environmental Services Star Ridge Landfill. By firing its kilns with captured landfill gas, the company substantially downgrades the impact of landfill gas on global warming, reduces America’s demand for fossil fuels, and uses an otherwise wasted alternative energy source while realizing economic benefits.
In 1998 the Jenkins Brick Company transitioned its Montgomery Plant kilns from full reliance on natural gas to obtaining the majority of its power from landfill gas. With the Montgomery Plant conversion, the company was able to realize cost savings while helping the City of Montgomery control their landfill gas emissions. For its efforts, the Jenkins Brick Company was awarded the Alabama Governor’s Conservation Achievement Award for Air Conservationist of the Year in 1999 and 2007 and LMOP's Project of the Year in 2006.
Jenkins Brick is committed to helping protect the environment. While incorporating the landfill gas capability to the Jordan Plant added $4 million to its capital cost, the company expects to realize significant savings in fuel costs as a result. Founded in the late 1800s, Jenkins Brick Company manufactures and distributes brick and associated products, employing approximately 500 people across the Southeast. Now in its fifth generation of family-owned leadership, Jenkins Brick Company has operation facilities in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina.
Last Updated: 8/18/2008
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