NEW YORK STATE Pilot project to help state turn poo into power 19 manure digesters to be installed on farms BY SARA FOSS Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Sara Foss at 395-3193 or sfoss@dailygazette. net.
Most people think of cow manure as a particularly smelly form of waste. But the state of New York sees things differently. When the state thinks about manure, it sees a potential source of green energy. That’s one of the reasons that New York has been selected to host the Dairy Power Project, a pilot project coordinated by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, an organization that brings together dairy farmer organizations and cooperatives as well as processors, manufacturers and brands. The goal, officials said, is to create a national model for using methane digesters — large machines that capture the methane gas in cow manure and convert it into electricity — on dairy farms. Right now, use of the expensive technology is limited by “economic, institutional, technological and cultural barriers,” according to the state. There are 12 methane digesters in New York, and the state wants to expand the technology. An additional 19 digesters will soon be installed throughout the state, although not on any farms in the Capital Region. (Most of the digesters are in western and northern New York.) There are 6,200 dairy farms in New York, with more than 600,000 cows, making New York the third largest dairy state in the country. The Innovation Center will hold a Dairy Power Summit in Syracuse on Oct. 29-30 to develop a strategy and list of projects for methane digester expansion. Dairy producers, utility companies, milk cooperatives, digester developers, financial institutions, academics and government representatives will be invited. “This will be a brainstorming session to talk about how to do a better job of enabling farmers to use methane for themselves and as renewable energy for their community,” said Jessica Chittenden, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Agriculture. She said one topic that will be discussed is how to make manure digesters more affordable. ...................>>>>..................>>>>............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01500
This is a good idea providing that they can find a way to produce a methane digester for a reasonable price. It will help to prevent much of the run off of the manure into streams and lakes compared to just spreading it on the fields and will produce some energy too. It will also prevent any manure laden with e-coli bacteria from getting into drinking water supplies.
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