Everybody poops, but cow's power the world

Methane-filled cow toots have long been the bane of environmentalists and pythonophobes everywhere (see also: megacorporations and carbon dioxide).

Now there's a chance that at least one thing coming out of cows could actually help stop global warming.

"When most people see a pile of manure, they see a pile of manure. We saw it as an opportunity for farmers, for utilities, and for California," said David Albers, dairyman and collaborater in The Vintage Dairy Biogas Project.

The project is building off a 33-foot deep vat of liquid manure the size of five football fields in Fresno County, California. It's not just for the sheer joy of collecting cow crap, though. The system extracts methane from the meadow muffins, converts it into biogas and sells it to Pacific Gas and Electric. The power company will then supply it to a pilot program of 1,200 homes for their everyday gaseous needs.

The droppings from the Vintage Dairy Farm are dumped into a pit and broken down to almost 99% water. Then the cow guano is flushed to the large "digester." A cover on the top of the pit becomes taut as the excrement is broken down by natural microbes and releases methane. Weights on the tarp push the methane to a facility where hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide are removed.

And then--ta dah!--you've turned cowplop into almost 99% methane and a renewable source of energy.

There's no word on how the paper industry feels about this, but the rest of us should be happy.

PG&E says it plans, in part due to The Vintage Dairy Biogas Project to make 14% of its energy powered by renewable resources by the end of the year. It says that biogas could eventually make 5% of its natural gas supply.

Now you're cooking with gas! Wait, yuck.

[via Reuters and The Telegraph]