California cows to supply renewable gas energy

[jpak]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/04/BUEUVCV51.DTL

California is blessed with many renewable sources of energy, from surging Sierra rivers to strong coastal winds.

Now, add another source to that list - cow manure.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. will unveil its latest renewable energy project today, a system that collects methane from manure on a Fresno County dairy farm and refines it into biogas, virtually identical to natural gas. The biogas then flows into a PG&E natural gas pipeline for use in homes and power plants.

The San Francisco utility gets a new source of fuel. The farm gets a new source of income. And the methane, a potent greenhouse gas, stays out of the atmosphere.

<more>

[Lasher]

1. Think I read somewhere that cow farts are being captured for the methane.

Not kidding.

[tinrobot]

3. I'd love to see the contraption used for that...

Then again, I'm eating breakfast... maybe not.

[Lasher]

4. They put them in these white, tent-like “bio-bubbles"

and capture the methane.



In this case they were measuring the methane to see how much a cow emits. The scientists seemed a little touchy about how their work is perceived.

But before he explains how it works, Mitloehner wants one thing to be clear. “We're not talking about flatulence,” he says. He emphasizes the point because his research has been dismissed as “fart science,” a label he says doesn't do justice to the seriousness of his work.

http://www.synthstuff.com/mt/archives/2005_07.html

Well OK, you say poh-tay-toe and I say poh-tah-toe.

[silverweb]

6. They need to do the same for melting permafrost fields.

The amount of methane there is immense, more than enough to exterminate all oxygen-breathing life on earth if it is not moderated in some way.

By the way, cows belch methane more than they fart it. Minor detail.

[LiberalEsto]

5. Germany leads the world!

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hottopics/msg0212044823457.html


and check out this PARODY site:

http://home.hawaii.rr.com/thildebrand/FlatulentTech/prodserv.html

[GliderGuider]

2. This is really catching on.

I went to an eco-farming symposium two weekends ago. One of the speakers was from a local Ottawa company called Genesys Biogas. Their business is installing methane bio-digesters and co-generation plants on dairy farms in the Ottawa area. They have 3 up and running at the moment, and a couple more in progress. It costs on the order of $500K, and a farm with 150 head of cattle can produce all their own heat and electricity, plus enough surplus to feed back into the grid. Unfortunately Ontario's power corporation won't let them make a profit doing that just yet, but they are looking at a payback period of only 5 years.

Oh, they say it cuts odour by 90% and they are looking into the possibility of certifying the effluent as organic fertilizer.

[silverweb]

7. Beautiful.

:thumbsup: