We seek to make an environmental difference.

The Green Energy Park campus was built on and beside a former landfill that naturally produces methane gas — a potent greenhouse gas that can severely impact the environment when released into the atmosphere. Instead of simply flaring or burning off the methane as waste, the Park captures and redirects the gas to fuel its studios and artistic facilities, transforming an environmental liability into a sustainable energy resource.

Like most landfills, the site also generates PFAS, commonly known as “forever chemicals,” in both liquid and gaseous forms. While liquid contaminants can be monitored and treated, landfill gases are typically flared into the air at temperatures around 1,000 degrees. Because PFAS compounds are still being studied and are linked to serious health concerns, the Park recognized the importance of ensuring its artists, staff, and visitors were not being exposed to harmful airborne particles within the studios.

In January 2025, a newly developed PFAS air test became commercially available for the first time. As the only known facility of its kind in the world using landfill methane to fuel artistic studios, the Green Energy Park conducted extensive testing to verify the safety of its operations. One key concern was whether the Park’s 2,000-degree furnaces were completely destroying PFAS compounds or simply breaking them into smaller, potentially hazardous particles.

Working alongside Eurofins Scientific laboratories in Knoxville, the Park completed two rounds of air-quality sampling. The results confirmed that the extreme temperatures inside the furnaces effectively destroyed the harmful PFAS compounds, validating that the studio environments are safe for artists, staff, and the public.

There’s something almost poetic about it, honestly — an old landfill becoming a place for art, community, and environmental innovation instead of just a scar on the landscape. Bit of an industrial phoenix situation.

For more information on the environmental benefits of the Park, please see this PDF.