This was written by former NRDC intern, Charles Baron, and is supposed to run in the Omaha World Herald any day now. I think it's a great piece and want to share it here.
Manure - The Smell of Money
by Charles Baron
The odors blasting from feedlots, livestock markets, and slaughterhouses can
be enough to knock the sturdiest plainsman out of his boots. But the
process of turning manure into methane fuel, known as biogas, is catching on
with big industry and small farmers alike.
An Omaha company, E3 BioFuels, will open the
world's first biogas powered ethanol plant in Mead, Nebraska this October. Their "closed
loop" design features a 24 million gallon per year ethanol plant linked to
a 30,000 head feed lot.
E3's cattle will produce enough manure to meet 100% of the plant's energy
needs while eliminating disposal costs. In turn, the ethanol plant will produce
enough wet distillers grain to feed 40% of the herd. This level of cost
cutting could revolutionize ethanol's economics.
Biogas works for smaller operations as well. Haubenschild Farms Inc, in Princeton, Minnesota,
built a biogas system for its 750 cow dairy herd in 1999. By 2001, the 132
killowatt generator was producing enough electricity for their entire farm and
75 average homes. The $355,000 system produces over $80,000 worth of
electricity a year.
Biogas is made by storing manure in large oxygen free tanks or covered
lagoons called "Anaerobic Digesters." The manure is heated to speed
natural digestion by bacteria. Bacteria then release methane, aka. natural gas,
which is piped to an engine to be burned for electricity or heat.
The "cooked" manure can be used as mulch or animal bedding or sold
as valuable fertilizer. High in ammonia, phosphorous, potassium, and mineral
nitrate, it has been shown to increase crop yields by 10% over conventional
fertilizers. Weed seeds are also digested, reducing the need for herbicides.
Biogas also has remarkable benefits for public health. Fecal Coliform
Bacteria, which carries Cholera, Typhoid, Hepatitis A, and Dysentery, seeps
from manure piles into waterways. Biogas systems have proven to reduce these
bacteria by 99% while eliminating odors by 97%.
Biogas also helps reduce global warming. Methane traps twenty-one times more
heat per molecule than carbon dioxide. Burning biogas for power converts
methane into less harmful carbon dioxide. Biogas proves that what's good for
the environment can also be great for business.
By using manure instead of coal, gas, or oil, for power, more of Nebraska's energy
dollars can be pumped into the local economy instead of in the oil coffers of
the Middle-East.
The manure from each of Nebraska's 3.9
million feedlot cattle can produce 2.3 killowatt-hours of clean electricity per
day - enough to meet 10.2% of Nebraska's
current electricity needs. In 2002, Nebraska
spent $1.4 billion on electricity, $205.3 million of which went to buy coal,
gas, oil, and nuclear fuel. This money could be kept instate and private,
pumping tens of millions of dollars into the rural economy each year, easing
the tax burden on citizens, and making Nebraska's cattle industry more
profitable and competitive.
Combine biogas with Nebraska's
huge ethanol and wind-energy potential, and you're talking about a possible
clean energy bonanza. Nebraska--Saudi Arabia in
the heartland?
Biogas systems, while economical, are still expensive. Federal subsidies and
no-interest loans are needed. Nebraskacould
provide a 1.5 cent/killowat-hour incentive for biogas electricity to spur
development as Minnesota
does.
Most importantly, Nebraska needs to adopt
practical net-metering laws as have many other states including Iowa, Colorado, North Dakota, Minnesota,
and Kansas.
Net-metering allows private power producers to sell back excess power to the
utility - making small-scale electricity generation economical for businesses,
homes and farms.
Iowa's
net metering allowance of 100 megawatts per property owner has spurred a wind
energy boom worth nearly a billion dollars.
Lastly, Nebraska's utilities need to modify
their Least Cost Option requirements for utility power generation so that Nebraska can invest in
technologies like biogas and wind, keeping more energy dollars and jobs in
state.
Biogas means energy made by Nebraskans for Nebraskans. It means giving
citizens more control over where they get power. It also means independence
from Mid-East oil and gas, a stronger local economy and healthier environment.
With the right strategy, Nebraskacould become a world leader in clean energy. So take a good whiff of what could
be Nebraska's
biogas boom.