What’s cleaner than clean coal, but also, well, filthy? Bring on the BioGas (and one cool comic)
Posted 03.18.2009 at 9:01 am
9 Comments
Poo is powerful stuff. That’s cow poo to be exact, though scientists say other animals' waste could also be used as an environmentally friendly energy source. 121 facilities in the U.S. are already turning their manure into electricity, and a report from the university of Texas says that the total potential across the country from existing cows could potentially serve 3% of our national energy use. And, a new bill was recently proposed asking for tax incentives for even more biogas production. This poo power stuff is really catching on.
If you're still finding it hard to visualize the transition from cow pies to flickering light bulbs, we delve into the poo-power basics here in graphic exposition.
Poo Power Panel 1: Molika Ashford
Next Page: The process of breakdown
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that is the kind of common sense frugality that we need. It is simply a money maker. Another area where this could have a huge impact is the poultry farming industry. Poultry manure is a very efficient source of gas that could power these farms.
Yes, for around 40 billion dollars, we could probably outfit all dairy farms with this. This is useless for ranch land where the poo is distributed across thousands of acres. I question the "3% of all power" figure though. I wonder what the return on investment is for your average dairy farmer if the cost of entry is 1 million dollars. How many years of electricity would that be if purchased from current sources?
Revision: There are around 92,000 dairy farms, not 40,000. So that figure is closer to 92 billion dollars.
does anyone know how this "poo power" originated? and does any one know a professional in this line of buisness?
from Snyder, New York
Why not do this with human waste? Our waste already goes to a center for treatment, where it is broken-down. Is it that our crap doesn't have as much methane? If this could work with human waste it seems that much of the mechanics of it are in place now. It seems that one could easily convert a septic system for this use.
from Kouts, IN
THis works great and i would no i use it
Anaerobic digestion is a fantastic oportunity, the process has been around for a while but it just keeps getting more and more efficient and productive as new upstart firms keep the more established ones on their toes, researching new techniques, etc.
I've done some research into the area whilst at university, and it's encouraging to see the market heating up. The costs of installation/maintenance are of course site dependent, but where some of the larger anaerobic facilities may cost in the order of several million, a new firm in the UK called HiRAD has demonstrated that small facilities (for as few as 125 head of cattle) can be set up for as little as £70,000.
Providing electricity, reduced slurry storage requirements, and fertiliser, all in an increasingly Green-aware industry, I can't really see how this isn't going to take off!
Yes Junno, good point. And to obtain enough energy from this process of anaerobic digestion to become profitable it's another story. If your expenses are £70000 and you obtain the energy equivalent to £60000 you did nothing.
http://www.aeonity.com/youth4ever
This seems to be just a way for large farm corporations to justify their thousands of tons of feces being stored. http://www.naymz.com/search/john/morgan/2678516