SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt., March 22, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A project in Washington State will support local dairy farms and reduce approximately 4,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year. eBay, Stonyfield Farm, Brita, and Effect Partners are enabling this project through the purchase of NativeEnergy's Help Build™ carbon offsets.
Conventionally, manure storage on dairy farms results in the release of methane—a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than CO2—into the atmosphere. The Rainier Farm Biogas Project in Enumclaw, WA, will avoid this pollution through the construction of a manure digester.
Three family-owned farms will feed their manure to the sealed, heated system. None of the farms is large enough to support a digester by itself, but through collaboration, they can jointly support it. The digester will capture and burn the methane to produce electricity in a 1-megawatt electric generator, which will deliver renewable energy to the region's electrical grid.
The developer, Rainier Biogas LLC, turned to NativeEnergy to help provide financing for the project. By selling the carbon reductions that will result from the digester, NativeEnergy was able to provide critical upfront funding for construction. Through NativeEnergy's innovative Help Build™ carbon offsets, eBay, Stonyfield Farm, Brita, and Effect Partners were able to purchase a share of the verified emissions reductions that the project will produce over a 10-year period.
Jeff Bernicke, President of NativeEnergy, said: "This project shows that, through a cooperative effort, our Help Build™ carbon offsets bring new carbon reduction projects on line.
Kevin Maas of Rainier Biogas, the project developer, noted: "Everyone in the community will benefit from this project. It will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect the area's sensitive rivers and streams, and provide low-cost bedding for local farmers."
To learn more, view the Rainier project page.
About Native Energy
NativeEnergy is a leading provider of verified carbon offsets and renewable energy credits. NativeEnergy's Help Build™ carbon offsets help finance the construction of Native American, family farm, and community-based carbon reduction projects. For more information, visit: www.nativeenergy.com.
About Rainier Biogas
Plugging into the century-old dairy community nestled at the foot of Mount Rainier, Rainier Biogas is the third anaerobic manure digester developed in Western Washington by Farm Power Northwest. The two previous projects improve manure handling on partner farms while each producing up to 750kW of electricity. Rainier Biogas is proud to commit to more long-term investment and cooperation with the family-run dairy farms in the Pacific Northwest. For more information, visit www.farmpower.com.
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