The University of New Hampshire in Durham announced today that the campus will run primarily on gas piped in from Waste Management's (NYSE: WMI [1]) landfill in Rochester.

Construction is expected to start immediately on the EcoLine gas processing plant.

The University of New Hampshire is the first university in the U.S. to use landfill gas as its primary energy source.

The landfill gas will replace commercial natural gas as the primary fuel in UNH's cogeneration plant, enabling UNH to receive 80 to 85 percent of its energy from a renewable source.

"By reducing the university's dependence on fossil fuels and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, EcoLine is an environmentally and fiscally responsible initiative," said UNH president Mark Huddleston.

In addition to the gas processing plant, Waste Management will also build a 12.7 mile underground pipeline which will transport the gas from the plant to the university.

UNH is planning to fuel its cogeneration plant with landfill gas by the fall of 2008.

The university said the estimated cost of the project, including the construction of a second generator at UNH, is $45 million.

"This project will add to the growing roster of landfill gas-to-energy projects operated by Waste Management across the country, and it will help us responsibly allocate the company's resources while providing renewable power to the communities we serve," said Alan Davis, a district manager for Waste Management.

Houston-based Waste Management, the nation's largest owner and operator of landfills, recently announced plans to create an additional 60 renewable energy facilities (see Waste Management expands its waste-to-energy operations [2]).

In total, Waste Management expects to generate more than 700 megawatts of renewable energy, enough to power 700,000 homes.