Cow Manure: The Power Source Of 2010
March 11th, 2010 Posted in Green Living & News
Who would of thought that the methane gas in cow manure had another purpose, other than smelling really bad. In Washington state, a plant that turns cow manure into electrical power has been successfully operating for over a year.
This is a wonderful way to conserve energy and recycle the waste materials that are readily available at most farms. Recycling cow manure is a farmer’s way of going green, but even this means of recycling causes some pollution.
This plant converts cow manure into electrical power by gathering the liquid manure and transforming it down to methane gas. This methane gas is then converted into electrical power, which then can be used as a renewable energy source. This plant, unlike previously cow manure plants, has the ability to gather cow manure from multiple farms and use this manure to their benefit.
This same plant can also convert food waste into electricity, which also helps conserve energy and save precious resources. This process also benefits farmers in the short term as well because they get paid to provide the cow manure to plants like this one.
Cow manure programs, like the Cow Power program started in Vermont, are popping up all over the country. The Cow Power program has been initiated by both federal and state agencies to provide farmers with grants and loans to install the equipment necessary to convert manure into power.
The initial costs are high, like most forms of alternative energies, but once the equipment is installed and in motion, the costs are paid for in the end. Farmers save money by recycling the cow manure, but also get money for the electricity they help generate.
With a herd of 5,200 cows, a farm can produce 9.4 million kilowatt-hours a year of electricity. This means big bucks for farmers and a healthy future for the environment. Yet, there are some downsides to this form of electricity production.
In California alone there are 1.6 million dairy cows and a reported 192 million pounds of cow manure produced per day. Without energy saving techniques, like converting the manure into electricity, this waste can potentially damage the environment. Yet, the California state air quality controllers claim that these systems of converting manure to power actually cause pollution themselves.
The state air qualifiers claim that the pollutants expelling from the cow manure plants are not at low enough levels for it to be safe enough for continued production. This conversion from manure to electricity has great potential, but problems like this could possibly stall the growth of this form of renewable energy.
1 Comment | The First 1,000 to Comment (Starting 12/21/2009) Will Become EcoSMART Product Testers!
By Julie on Mar 17, 2010
I recently toured a large dairy here in SE New Mexico. They said a few years ago, one of their biggest expenses was disposing of the waste products. Now, they are in negotiations to sell their waste to a company that will be converting the manure to electricity. Wow! What a concept!