Could Cow Poop Power Your Home?
Written by artboy on March 5, 2008 – 12:34 pm -
Some 9 million dairy cows produce 400 billion pounds of unmentionables (It ain’t milk!) each year in the US. What good can come of this?
The answer is, a great deal. A California firm called Valley Air Solutions has created seven large scale poop-to-methane facilities at dairy farms. They economically capture the methane generated by the cow manure, and pipe it directly to furnaces and boilers that heat barns and water tanks that would otherwise be powered by conventionally generated electricity.
The technology uses above-ground gas-tight covered anaerobic tanks to convert the cow droppings to methane. The process has a major side benefit, because once in the atmosphere, methane is 20 times as destructive as carbon dioxide in terms of climate change.
Straus Family Creamery, the first organic dairy west of the Mississippi, generates 300,000 kilowatt-hours per year with such a system, and saves $40,000 at current utility rates.
Source: www.worldbusiness.org
Tags: climate, cows, electricity, energy, Environment, gas, green, greenhouse gases, methane, poop, power, technology, utility
Posted in Environment | No Comments »
Going Green.
Written by admin on February 22, 2008 – 3:14 pm -
What the heck is Al Gore talking about anyway? Is that Michael Moore ranting about something again? Well, “going green” is on everyone’s lips these days. What’s all the hype? Carbon footprints, solar power, alternate fuels, global warming, war for oil… yikes! Will someone please tell us what’s going on here. Share suggestions, tips, concerns, myths and any other issue that affects our environment. Get your post on!
Tags: Al Gore, alternate fuels, carbon footprints, Earth Day, Environment, global warming, hydrogen, polar ice caps, solar panels, solar power, war for oil
Posted in Environment | No Comments »
