Ohio Farms Planning To Use Cows, Chickens To Generate Energy
US - It won't be long before 580,000 chickens and 3,800 dairy cows become among the first animals in Ohio to help generate electricity.
23 July 2007
1 minute read
Chris Weaver, whose family owns and operates Bridgewater Dairy, said the methane digester captures methane in the manure, which is then converted into electricity.
The process reduces the manure's smell as well.
"More of our neighbors will take it for fertilizer (on their fields) because the people who live near their farms won't complain that it smells," Weaver said.
The family hopes to have the methane digester operating by year's end.
"It'll produce about 30 percent more energy than we'll actually use," Weaver said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has agreed to chip in $500,000 of the roughly $2 million that each digester costs, said Randy Monhemius, USDA business program specialist.
Source: Dayton Daily News
