Problem:

Electrically powered ceramic kilns, heated to temperatures of around 1000°C over ten hours, consume a great deal of energy. For just one firing, smaller kilns that operate on a 120-volt standard household outlet will typically draw between 1.5 and 1.8 kilowatts whereas a medium-sized kiln will draw around 5 kW or 8 kW.

Solution:

From 1994, the decomposing garbage (approximately 40 to 60% methane) from a landfill outside Burnsville, nestled in the Black Mountains of western North Carolina, USA was transformed into a source of fuel for pottery kilns, glass furnaces, and greenhouse aided native plants.

Since 2000, the EnergyXchange (now called Earth to Sky Park) has provided rental studio space to over 20 resident artists in a Glass studio and a Clay studio. For the ceramic artists most of the attention has been focused on the gas-fired ceramic kiln which is fueled with the methane gas captured from the landfill.

Discover Solution 140: Enhanced rock weathering

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