270 cows generating electricity for farm

[carols]

After 25 years of persistent work, Marin County rancher Albert Straus has figured out a way to run his dairy farm, organic creamery and electric car from the manure generated by his herd of 270 cows.

Cheered on by a small gathering of engineers, environmentalists and fellow farmers, Straus stepped into a utility shed Thursday, switched on a 75- kilowatt generator, then stepped outside to snip the ribbon spanning a spanking-new electrical panel.

On the panel, an electricity meter began running backward, indicating that power originating from a nearby poop-filled lagoon near the town of Marshall was feeding into PG&E's electric power grid.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/05/14/BAGJG6LG3R15.DTL

[Tommy_Douglas]

1. Good for him...

I believe in India a number of people use methane from animal and human waste for cooking and such. So it can be done.

[KittyWampus]

3. China As Well, And What's Left Afterwards Is Used As Ferilizer

[sybylla]

10. This isn't a new idea at all in this country either

In the 70's there was a great deal of talk about capturing methane for a variety of uses. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the Carter administration was trying to offer all kinds of tax credits and grants for energy programs including this one and they no sooner got adopted when Reagan came in and terminated them all.

Very few farmers have enough extra cash to do it on their own. If it get's any where near cost effective, the word will spread and we will see this kind of innovation spread across the country.

[Raster]

13. ahh, yes...raygun's "morning in america"...

...we don't need to recycle
...we don't need to conserve
...we don't need to worry about global warming
...there's an infinite supply of oil, we'll always find new sources
...we don't need alternate energy

the reality: mourning in america

[whistle]

2. This gives me an idea...

...let's apply the same technology to the republican politicians and freepers out there. By my calculations, Rush Limbaugh could produce 2 to 3 times the manure output of the typical dairy cow, while his supporters could each amass the same amount of output as any Holstein. Couple that with the output of politicians and hard core republicans and you could easily produce 9.7 million kilowatts a day. The trick though will be get get all of these RW's to poop in one place!

[carols]

4. Good idea!

At least they would be useful to society for a change!
Carol

On edit: If you want to get them to poop all in one place, a Bush fundraiser is a good place to start!

[Raster]

14. flush limpballs should be a national energy treasure...

...between the hot air out of one end and the horse shit out of the other (you figure out which end is which), he could power cleveland.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

15. There's NO WAY I can figure it out!

The two orifices are indistinguishable!

[Merlin]

19. HEY!

Cleveland don't want no damn Limpball Lectricity!

[Webster Green]

5. The Straus Family Farm is way cool....

The milk is the best, and they sell it in glass (return for deposit) bottles.

[BrotherBuzz]

8. Agree, I've had it

Cream and yogurt, too. Here's another outfit that was featured on a local PBS (Sacramento's California Heartland) that is doing the same thing, only with pigs in the Central Valley; not as romantic as Marin County.


Pig Power


"In pig farming we use everything but the squeal," says David Sharp.And when David Sharp and his father Roy say everything, they mean everything. Thesepig farmers at Royal Farms just outside Tulare in the southern San Joaquin Valley have an interesting and important revenue source. For want of a more precise term, we call itpig droppings.

The little piglets that grow up into 500 pound porkers ultimately end up as gloves and pork chops, even the gelatin in some ice creams. But a quarter ton oinker on the hoof leaves behind an astounding amount of manure. And now that's a cash crop."When I smell it or see it, I think money," said David.

On a sweltering valley day in August the odor from a farmyard of pigs can take the will to live right out of a city person. But to the Sharps, that means the family power plant is hard at work.

The waste material contributed by all those pigs is converted into methane, a colorless,odorless gas that is inexpensive and valuable. The methane can be turned into electricity and the Sharps sell the excess to Southern California Edison. That's right; those big appetite pigs have friends in corporate America, here's how it works.

Said David, "There's basically like a basement underneath these pens where all the waste drops, or the renewable resource as we call it sometimes and it slopes so all we have to do is flush it with water, then gravity takes over and then pumps it into the lagoon."

This so-called lagoon, covered with a tarp, looks and feels like a giant waterbed.

"This is where the gas is produced and underneath me, the bacteria are digesting all the organic matter that's being pumped in here. It's almost like a pot boiling but there's no heat. There's billions and billions of little bugs down there eating and all that gas just gravities to the top, bubbles up and we take it from there," said David.

The methane is pumped out and fuels a generator on the other side of the farm. This low-tech electrical plant has saved the Sharps a ton of cash over the years.Said David, "Since we've started this, we've saved over a million dollars in power costs."

An average of $84,000 per year shaved right off the top of the electric bill. It's a great system as long as everything works.

"Once in a while, it's just like every system has its glitches, and we have to run like a roto-rooter snake through it and unplug it, but it's fixable, easy. It's just not real glamorous. It's why plumbers get paid so much," said David.

Don't look for pig power to soon to replace petroleum of hydroelectric power. But there is a market for methane. Even the Federal Government, no stranger itself to gaseous emissions, is encouraging farmers to install their own methane recovery systems.

www.californiaheartland.org/archive/hl_762/pigpower.htm

[mzmolly]

6. Wow. That is awesome!

:toast:

[Emboldened Chimp]

7. Let's hear it for Poop Power!

:toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast:

[sybylla]

9. Poop-filled lagoon?

Where I come from, in cow country, we call that a manure pit. Sheesh, city folk.

[notadmblnd]

11. couldn't this be done with any animal waste?

America get crapping!

[sybylla]

12. Yep, it can

I used to live in a suburb of Madison that collected methane off of its land fill. Methane is a natural byproduct of decomposition. Most any animal or vegetable can produce it under the right conditions.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. Would we have to eat cabbage constantly? (nt)

[struggle4progress]

18. If the garbage is separated in advance ...

it's actually possible to design good digester facilities that maximize the methane production.

[truthisfreedom]

17. not only can this be done with any kind of waste, oils of all types (food

included) can be processed into a type of diesel-like fuel. eventually we should be able to stick our garbage into a device that will return energy, fertilizer, heat, and sorted recyclables out the other end. but not with this administration at the helm. all we'll get is war, hate, and waste. and empty treasury coffers.

[TexasBushwhacker]

20. I just found out about E85

http://www.e85fuel.com/

but that's not surprising since I'm in Texas. We can't even get gasohol (E10) here, even though Houston is one of the smoggiest cities in the country.