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| Science & Technology |
| Cow-o-Watts On The Farm |
| 2010-06-02 |
| How many dairy cows does it take to make a kilowatt of electricity, enough to power a small apartment? Four, according to GHD, Inc. The company, based in Chilton, Wis., makes methane from cow poop using a technique called anaerobic digestion. Four cows make about 64 gallons of manure a day. This manure can be fed to bacteria that once lived in a cow's gut. These microorganisms break down undigested fatty acids in the manure over weeks to make methane gas. Methane is then burned onsite at the farm to make electricity that can be sold to utility companies. To be economical the operation needs about 600 cows, and the largest operations include more than 10,000 cows. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #4 Not nearly enough penance for our evil carbon emitting ways. What's needed is to dry the cow patties and make people cook and heat their homes with them. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2010-06-02 22:30 |
| #3 Has anyone reminded the environmentalists about the fact that methane contributes to gerbil worming? These cows will be the death of us! |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-06-02 14:08 |
| #2 anaerobic is one way to deal with industrial quantities of manure the other way is to compress, heat and use chemicals to produce a petroleum type product; since methane prices are way low these days (compared to oil), the 2nd process (which is more capital intensive) has that advantage |
| Posted by: lord garth 2010-06-02 12:51 |
| #1 The environmental activists are 'torn' on this. On one hand, this process is efficiently producing electricity in a 'renewable' way. On the other hand, it does stink some and it's MEAT!!!! |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2010-06-02 12:27 |