Located adjacent to Catawba County’s Biodiesel Research Facility are three one-megawatt landfill gas-to-energy generator sets. Each generator contains a cooling system, not unlike the cooling system found in a car or truck, designed to keep the engines from overheating. As the coolant circulates through the engine, it transfers heat from the engines, thereby keeping them from overheating. The heat being carried away is a thermal energy source. Following the philosophy of Catawba County’s EcoComplex, winner of the 2007 Thomas Muhlenbeck Award, the Biodiesel Design Team recognized the inexpensive thermal energy as a byproduct of the landfill gas engines that could be utilized. This energy source is now providing low cost heat to warm the building and to heat water for use in the biodiesel production process and is known as the Thermal Energy Exchange, Capture, and Utilization Project (TEECUP). This project has helped reduce biodiesel operational costs by basically eliminating the need for electric heat for the building and for part of the production process