A World of Shit
| By Mike Collins - Jul 7th, 2009 at 10:03 am EDT |
NY Times
July 7, 2009
Making a Cash Cow Out of Manure Isn't Easy
By DEBRA KAHN of ClimateWire
ATWATER, Calif. -- The gurgling is loudest near the edges as Carl Morris jumps on a tarp covering a lagoon of decomposing manure.
"It's the world's largest waterbed," said Morris, chief operating officer of Joseph Gallo Dairy Farms in California's Central Valley.
The moonbounce-like, 60-millimeter-thick tarp covers the farm's 24-foot-deep pond. It's a holding tank for manure from 5,000 Holstein and Jersey cows, and the decomposing waste produces 400,000 cubic feet of methane gas per day. That, in turn, powers a generator and provides steam to run a cheese-making plant. It's also very stinky.
"There's nothing high-tech about it," said Morris, who estimates that the farm saves about $2,700 per day in electricity and steam power, plus 400,000 gallons of propane per year.
Continued:
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/07/07/07climatewire-making-a-cash-cow-out-of-manure-isnt-easy-45070.html
July 7, 2009
Making a Cash Cow Out of Manure Isn't Easy
By DEBRA KAHN of ClimateWire
ATWATER, Calif. -- The gurgling is loudest near the edges as Carl Morris jumps on a tarp covering a lagoon of decomposing manure.
"It's the world's largest waterbed," said Morris, chief operating officer of Joseph Gallo Dairy Farms in California's Central Valley.
The moonbounce-like, 60-millimeter-thick tarp covers the farm's 24-foot-deep pond. It's a holding tank for manure from 5,000 Holstein and Jersey cows, and the decomposing waste produces 400,000 cubic feet of methane gas per day. That, in turn, powers a generator and provides steam to run a cheese-making plant. It's also very stinky.
"There's nothing high-tech about it," said Morris, who estimates that the farm saves about $2,700 per day in electricity and steam power, plus 400,000 gallons of propane per year.
Continued:
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/07/07/07climatewire-making-a-cash-cow-out-of-manure-isnt-easy-45070.html
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