CHAPEL HILL -- Methane gas emitted from the Orange County landfill, properly harnessed, could power a large building on the university campus.

UNC and county officials are close to a deal to make that happen.

The plan calls for the university to spend about $5 million to install equipment to capture methane and pipe it to a generator where it can be used to help power the future Carolina North satellite campus.

County and university officials have negotiated since February, and they expect to have a contract to present to the county commissioners and the university's Board of Trustees in a few months.

"The university and the county stand to benefit quite a bit," said Ray Dubose, UNC's director of energy services.

"We're very very anxious to get the project under way."

George Cianciolo, chairman of the Chapel Hill Planning Board, has pushed the idea for years and is happy to finally see it happen.

But he questions whether the county could have gotten a better deal financially. While the deal isn't finalized, it doesn't appear the county will see any additional revenue from the project.

"I think it's great that somebody's using it and we're not just burning it off into the evironment," Cianciolo said.

"But in terms of giving it my ringing endorsement, I'd like to know who's getting what out of it."

UNC officials asked the county last fall not to bid the project out, said Gayle Wilson, Orange County's solid waste director.

A feasibility study determined a project with UNC was workable, and in April the Board of County Commissioners approved the project.

The county will receive some financial compensation for the project, but it's not clear how much, Wilson said. That's subject to ongoing negotiations.

"Since we didn't bid, we'll never know whether we could have received more or less revenue through a competitive process," Wilson said.

It's unlikely the project will be a money-maker for UNC.

The county explored tapping the gas in 1999, but the finances didn't work. The energy cost savings didn't come close to covering the capital investment required.

That's still the case.

The university estimates that it will save $1 million in energy costs over 20 years, meaning it will take UNC one-fifth of a century to cover one-fifth of its start-up costs.

A desire to cut pollution is why the university is willing to operate at a loss.

It has pledged, along with other local governments, to cut its carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2050.

Preventing methane gas from escaping into the atmosphere will go a long way toward that.

Methane is about 21 times more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide.

"The university would not be interested in selling the carbon offsets but retaining them to offset carbon emissions and thus become more carbon neutral," Dubose said.

"Methane destruction is the most important part of the project environmentally."

Wells will be drilled into the landfill and pipes will capture the methane. The gas will be sent to a collector on the landfill site that will remove moisture and compress it.

The gas then will be piped underground to the Carolina North site near the Duke Energy substation.

Duke Energy will use the gas to help power Carolina North.

Before the main construction on Carolina North begins, the gas will be used to help power the cluster of buildings that include the Giles Horney building and the Environmental Health Sciences facility.