anerobic digester...how u can make a million

[Redtail1949]

The United States is counting on cows to help save the planet.

U.S. Secretary Tom Vilsack announced an agreement with the American dairy industry Tuesday to reduce the industry's greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2020, mostly by convincing farmers to capture the methane from cow manure that otherwise would be released into the atmosphere.

"This historic agreement, the first of its kind, will help us achieve the ambitious goal of drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions while benefiting farmers," Vilsack said at the U.N. climate talks. "(The) use of manure of technology is a win for everyone."

The plan calls for persuading more American farmers to purchase an anaerobic digester, which essentially converts cow manure into electricity. The problem is that, so far, only 2 percent of U.S. dairy farmers are using the technology, mostly because it is too costly for family farmers.

lordy lordy is there a shrink in the house....

[blind ear]

To hem up the manure the cows have to be hemmed up. That doesn't work well with dairy cattle. They must free range or they get sick, (Can't wade it thier own waste like a pig). Feed lot steers are vulnerable to confinement as well but less so. Can you imagine the pooper scooper it would take to pick up the poop from 300 cows rangeing over 1200 acres? A giant golf ball shovel rather than a rake. Must have been a Democratic Enviromental Scientist that thought this one up. Makes me wonder.

[Casull]

Should work fine for the House and Senate.  They're already penned up and sure full of it.

[Rustyinfla]

  Maybe someone should ask Mr. Vilsack how many udders a cow has before we determine his credentials.

[gypsyman]

Put him in the pen, and he'll probably try and milk the bull. gypsyman (the bull wouldn't mind!)

[Redtail1949]

i just can get the vision of the man that did these test to come up with this idea...he walks behind the cow with a sniffer sensor and waits for the time to come....lol the world is full of lunatics.

[Redtail1949]

i have this vision of this poor guy that was ordered to do the testing. walking behind a cow with a sniffer sensor just waiting for the time to come..where to they find their scientist their experts? in the nut house...jeeeezsse

[Questor]

I didn't think there was more than residual methane in cow poop. My understanding is that the methane is eliminated as gas and that the solids are the poop.

I can think of better things to do with the poop, like using it as farm fertilizer. That's a wide-spread practice (if you'll pardon the pun), here in MN and it's a lot more valuable as fertilizer than as electricity because it replenishes the soil.

I get a kick out of these bureaucrats that have probably never even seen an animal other than a dog, cat, or urban pigeon. They come up with some of the most interesting ideas.

[Empty Quiver]

What does feasability and government plans have to do with each other? Suprised they don't have a plan to use paper currency in this digester.