S.C. Johnson To Construct Green Energy System

As part of SC Johnson’s ongoing commitment to protect the global environment, the company broke ground today for the installation of a new system that transforms waste landfill methane gas into “green” energy using a process called cogeneration. SC Johnson chairman Dr. H. Fisk Johnson, U.S. Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, and others gathered to celebrate the launch of the project at the company’s Waxdale manufacturing facility, 8311 16th Street, Sturtevant.

The site of the groundbreaking will house a turbine engine which, through a process called cogeneration, burns waste methane gas from a nearby landfill to produce electricity and steam to be used by the Waxdale facility. In a further innovation, the Waxdale plant will use waste methane gas generated by a local landfill as the fuel for the cogeneration procedure. SC Johnson is the first consumer products manufacturer to use the cogeneration process to power its main manufacturing site operations.

The waste methane gas will come from the Republic Services’ Kestrel Hawk landfill site, one half mile to the east of Waxdale. SC Johnson will burn methane instead of fossil fuels, such as natural gas or coal. Through this process, the company expects to reduce Waxdale’s emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases by 47% and cut fossil fuel energy use nearly in half by 2005.

“The greenhouse gases we save through this process will be equivalent to keeping 3,200 cars off the road per year,” said Dr. Johnson. “That’s right for SCJ, our community and our planet today — and even more important, it’s right for the generations of tomorrow.”

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), only about 30 U.S. companies have developed an energy recovery system utilizing otherwise wasted landfill methane. But SC Johnson is unique in its cogeneration process of using methane gas to make electricity and recovering waste heat for use in the Waxdale plant as steam.

The project is another step in SC Johnson’s efforts in the U.S. EPA’s Climate Leaders Initiative, a voluntary partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The system is projected to be fully operational by the end of 2003.

The groundbreaking takes place just three days after SC Johnson received the first-ever Lifetime Atmospheric Achievement Award from the U.S. EPA, recognizing the company for its longstanding commitment to protecting the ozone layer and climate. Scott Johnson, vice president of global environmental and safety actions for SC Johnson, accepted the award on behalf of the company on Tuesday at the Earth Technologies Forum in Washington, D.C.