Next Time You See A Dairy Herd, Think Milk, Butter And Energy

When we look at a field of dairy cows chowing down on alfalfa and clover, think of all the milk products they give us — butter, cream, ice cream and ingredients for our favorite chocolate bars, to name some.

But their diets of all that roughage produces a totally unexpected cash crop: manure.

Today’s dairy farmers are sluicing cattle manure into holding pits where the slurry releases biomethane gas which is captured and sold off to energy companies. It’s no different than any other form of natural gas, whether from deep in the ground like oil wells or fracking operations, as it can be used to power generators, heat homes, or run metropolitan bus fleets.

It’s great for the dairy farmers as it gives them a whole new revenue stream, and a way to stay in step with all the greenhouse gas regulations. And it works for the utilities that buy up the gas who get to show how they are meeting demands from customers and lawmakers to cut down on fossil fuel usage.

The biggest drawback is that renewable natural gas from manure, landfills or wastewater isn’t exactly cheap. Compared to out-of-the-ground natural gas it’s between four and seven times more costly. But this price disadvantage is expected to close as fuel from natural sources becomes more common. Still, we’re way behind in the effort to increase usage dramatically

Vermont is a good example of what to watch for in the future. They have lots of dairy farms on those rolling green meadows and the state is looking for opportunities to get the state’s biggest energy users to switch over to biomethane. Currently, natural gas from dairy farms is only 1% of renewable sources. But that leaves a big upside.

Before we get all hung up on cows and dairy farms, remember there are thousands of hog farms and beef stock grazing lands with a plethora of porkers and moo’ers creating manure just waiting to be converted into gas.

Next time you see cows or hogs on a farm, think beyond butter and milk, or bacon and ham. Think four-legged renewable energy machines. Maybe someday we’ll be stopping at gas stations to fill up with SuperMoo with high an Oink-tane rating. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)