Date:         Thu, 6 Mar 2008 13:41:41 -0800
Reply-To:     Pensioner <al_knoll@PACBELL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Pensioner <al_knoll@PACBELL.NET>
Subject:      Re: Water Powered Cows
In-Reply-To:  <200803061938.m26Jc0SL025649@nlpi034.prodigy.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

In response to a steadily diminishing stream of requests for viable gasoline
alternative information sources, Vanagonparts points out Strauss Family
Creamery a premium purveyor of top notch dairy products is also in the
bullsh*t/cow poo energy business.

Just use that excess kilowattage to break down the water to H2 and O...fill
up yore tank and pick up a quart of milk at the same time.  Take a big
breath of the O2 as an antidote to the farmy smells and power on!  From
their website about their dairy, wherein live those happy cows from
California, a leading producer and promoter of BS for all, comes:


We Power The Dairy With Methane From Our Cows

It’s true!


After a 5-year process, we’re now creating electricity with our methane
digester. The digester captures naturally occurring gas from manure and
converts it into electricity.  With this new system, we’re generating up to
300,000 kilowatt-hours per year. That is about $40,000 a year!

More importantly, tarping manure ponds eliminates the release of methane (a
natural byproduct of manure) into the air. According to the 2003 U.S.
Department of Energy Report on Greenhouse Gases, agricultural sources,
primarily animal waste, account for approximately three percent of
greenhouse gas emissions. A dairy cow can generate 120 lbs. of waste each
day, totaling  about 40,000 lbs. per year! Solids separated from the waste
are composted and reused as fertilizer, providing additional, far-reaching
benefits.

The project received a 50 percent grant from the California Energy
Commission.  Ours is the first system to take advantage of regulations of
“net metering”. Net metering allows Straus to run meters in reverse and also
offset other electrical usage from other meters at the farm and the
creamery.

This is one more step in creating a self-sufficient dairy that minimizes its
environmental impact.

How the Methane Digester Works




Twice a day, the barn is cleaned by flushing with recycled water. Manure is
scraped with a tractor toward a holding pond.  The pond is where the
processes of decomposition and methane digestion begin.


Manure goes through a separator, which separates solids from liquids.

The liquids are piped into a second, covered pond that uses anaerobic
(without oxygen) digestion, a process in which bacteria break down the
manure.

The byproduct of anaerobic digestion is methane gas.There is sixty percent
methane, along with carbon dioxide and a small amount of hydrogen sulfide
that is produced.  The tarp that covers the pond captures the gases and they
flow to a combustion engine. The methane fuels the engine of the generator.
The generator then produces electricity.  Heat created by the combustion
engine is also used to heat water for the dairy. This 180-degree water is
used for cleaning barns.

Benefits of a methane digester


Eliminates methane gas - a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more detrimental
than carbon dioxide.
Greatly reduces odors on the farm.
Fly populations are greatly reduced.
Separated solids are used as an organic fertilizer on the farm
Remaining liquids are also applied as an organic fertilizer to the pastures
and silage crops.
The tarp helps to divert rainwater that would otherwise fill the ponds.
Links to the Experts



Doug Williams
Woodland, CA 95695
(530) 669-7236
doug.williams@valleyairsolutions.com