(FORTUNE Magazine) – With energy prices in Europe as much as twice those in the U.S., it's no surprise that Europeans are guzzling U.S. ideas for alternative fuels. Elm Energy, a division of the U.S. utility Northern Indiana Public Service, is exporting the latest scheme: a tire-burning power plant big enough to turn 23% of Britain's used tires into electricity each year. Such plants consume about 10% of discarded tires in the U.S. Utilities use about half the energy created, and cement manufacturers the rest. Anne Evans, 37, a former Connecticut tire dealer and now head of Elm Energy, predicts bigger growth potential in Europe and not just because of the higher cost of ordinary fuel. In the U.S., for example, the used-tire market is heavily fragmented. In Europe, the industry has fewer players, so ''fuel'' supply is more dependable. Big tiremakers like Michelin, Pirelli, and Goodyear, which also sell tires at retail, have already signed long-term contracts to deliver used tires to Evans's door and pay her for taking them. Based on technology developed by Basic Environmental Engineering in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, the new $75 million British plant will also be one of the cleanest power plants in Europe. The cleanliness serves a purpose. Every scrap of the tire left after burning, including steel particles and the gunk in the smoke, is reclaimed and sold back to the tire and construction industries. ''We'll use everything but the squeal,'' says Evans. Located in Wolverhampton, in central England, Elm's first plant opened in October and will supply enough electricity for 25,000 homes in its first year. Next year Elm intends to spend another $45 million on two more such plants in Britain and $75 million on one in Belgium.