One thing we have in relative abundance here in our neighbourhood is cows. Bruce County is provides a major side of Ontario's beef cattle, plus there's dairy operations, cheese factories, world-famous ice-cream ... and that's just the cows, that doesn't even start to talk about the elk, emu, sheep, goats and all the rest lurking about our struggling farmlands.

And as anyone knows who's ever been bottom of the totem pole in farm chores, one thing all these critters have in common is waste, but now it turns out all those pitchforks full just might be a key to making agriculture economical again, as we learn from the Monterey County Herald story, the fuel of the future might be Cow Power ...

In Chino, nine dairies supply a centrally located methane digester. The gas created is used to drive pumps that bring up salty groundwater from the underground basin, which is then desalinated in a plant, with power coming from the methane gas.

Say again? Power from dung? Significant power? BS? Ok, I though, so let's google that and see what floats ...

Cost to build: ~ $400,000
Capacity: ~100 kW
If dairy is paying $.09/kWh, and consumes 800,000 kWh/yr then $72,000/yr in savings
At this rate payback averages 6 years
Economics of Digesters

Eight cows could provide all the energy needs for a single family dwelling, and there's no politicians involved, which is maybe good, but maybe not considering the amount of BS most of them can produce in a year.

And among the environmental advantages:

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ambient air pollution, Ammonia (PM10) and ROGs (Ozone)
• Improved water quality from upgraded manure management systems and reducing seepage and runoff
• Destroys pathogens and weed seeds
• Produces high quality byproducts such as bedding, fertilizers, and mulch

There's a more detailed explanation given by Ohio State describing the process and the apparatus. The main obstacles appear to be the high-costs to start up a unit and the care and management of the delicate process once it's running, but that just means it's not something you'd add farm by farm but rather a job best left for an entrepreneur to provide a shared service much as we already do for feed and seed.