Dow continues to advance sustainable chemistry through innovative approaches to meet Dow’s 2015 Sustainability goals, while addressing the growing demand in the carpet industry for products with sustainable attributes.
Dow has begun piping methane gas, a renewable energy resource, from a local landfill to its Dalton, Georgia latex manufacturing plant. Using LOMAX™ Technology, Dow expects to use approximately 240 billion BTU per year of landfill gas (that would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere) instead of natural gas, to generate steam for the production of latex carpet backing.
Municipal landfills are the largest human-generated source of methane emissions in the United States according to the US EPA, and as a greenhouse gas, methane has over 20 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide (CO2). The Dow facility, through capturing and burning the methane, will help mitigate global warming by reducing Dow’s use of fossil fuels and the landfill’s methane emissions.
The amount of energy is equivalent to the electricity used in approximately 2100 average U.S. homes annually and the annual reduction in CO2 emissions per year – more than 27 million pounds – equates to keeping 2,300 cars off the road each year. And homeowners can make a contribution too: installing carpet manufactured with LOMAX technology can reduce their CO2 emissions by 7 to 8 pounds.
This kind of innovative thinking and collaborative effort is just one example of how the Human Element at Dow is contributing to more sustainable chemistry solutions; for more, please visit http://www.dow.com/commitments/studies/index.htm
