Dairy cows are being recruited to provide sustainable manure-derived methane biogas to power homes in New York State.
Along with other alternative energies, renewable methane could reduce the demand for natural gas, and forestall the potential danger to water supplies posed by unsafe natural gas drilling operations, it is felt.The statewide methane biogas project was kick-started this fall at New York State’s Dairy Power Summit.
The Summit, held Oct. 29 and 30, 2009, in Syracuse, N.Y., brought together more than 200 New York dairy farmers and industry stakeholders from across the country to discuss the potential for dairy-supplied renewable energy.
Summit attendees set a 2020 goal that 40 percent of all manure from New York dairy farms goes through the anaerobic digestion process, which captures methane from manure and generates clean, renewable energy. The energy produced from this effort could power 32,000 homes while strengthening the economic vitality of New York's dairy farms. It also would reduce New York's greenhouse gas emissions by 500,000 metric tons of carbon, equivalent to taking 100,000 cars off the road.
The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, with sponsorship from GE Energy, coordinated the Dairy Power Summit in order to identify and act on opportunities to increase the economic viability and adoption rate of anaerobic digesters. Participants represented dairy farms; utilities; milk cooperatives; digester developers; financial institutions; academia; and local, state and federal governments.
"The Dairy Power Summit is an outstanding effort on the part of the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, as we try to reduce the methane emissions and enable farmers to use cleaner, renewable energy sources, and as we go forward in our attempt to green our environment, to green our economy, and also to create economic development for our farmers," said New York Gov. David A. Paterson in a video address to summit attendees.
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While the summit primarily focused on anaerobic digester opportunities in the state of New York, these pilot projects could lead to solutions for farms and communities across the country.
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Source-Medindia
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