Marion County will soon join the ranks of counties around the country using waste to produce energy. There are only 11 facilities in

Florida that convert methane created by landfills into usable power.

Curington Construction worker Bob Adams has been doing construction for 20 years, but he says this project his company took on is different.

"We're burning the methane that's produced off of the landfill to produce electricity for homes," said Adams. "I think that's a pretty neat thing."

On Thursday, he was taking measurements of the facility, which is expected to be completed by October of this year.

"It feels good to be involved in something like that," said Adams.

Working with Gainesville Regional Utilities and G2 energy out of Atlanta, which is paying for the 4.5 million dollar facility, Marion County's Solid Waste Department will be taking advantage of a resource they've always had, but never really enjoyed.

"What we're basically doing is collecting the normal methane gas that's expelled from garbage which we would normally flair off, and converting that into a renewable energy source," said Marion County Solid Waste Spokesperson Dennis Slifer.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, over 500 landfills are currently being looked at as sites for similar facilities, and locally it's becoming more popular too.

Marion County solid waste workers say a facility like this is a big help to the environment. They say the amount of energy they would produce a day would save 300,000 barrels of oil a year.