13 May 2009  ::  Cows and shit
I recently did a presentation on biogas. This is not the presentation, but it is related to biogas. A (singlular, as in one) cow, generally speaking, produces enough fecal matter that, once broken down, is equivalent to ~200 liters of gasoline, which is a very rough 53 gallons in a given year. If said fuel was used in a 45 mpg vehicle, you'd get about 2,377 miles out of it. Apparently, there are 95 million cows in the US, meaning a third of the population could get over 2k worth of driving off cows alone, which is not mentioning the 59 million pigs and the millions other farmyard animals that provide only meat and poop in a given year. And not to mention the 300 million Americans and their waste. For those who might wonder what the US would do for fertilizer if all the excrement was thrown into digesters, then know that the by product of the fermentation is a dry material that is high in nitrates, which is a great fertilizer. Win-win.

Since I'm speculating, I might as well say that all waste- anything organic can work- grass clippings, roadkill, food- you name it. And as American society takes pride in the amount of trash they churn out, America is like a biogas goldmine. Think about it- instead of spending all the money to clean up sewage before dumping it back in a stream, it just gets converted to biogas. Instead of spending tons and tons of money to find places to throw away refuse and using up valuable resources, a lot of it gets turned into biogas.

Hey, why not throw solar panels atop of buildings too? Make a car that is part electric and biogas. For around the city, the electric batteries do the work, and that energy comes from your roof. Go for a trip; go as far as you want on biogas. It seems fair to say that every American could get 5k worth of distance off biogas and probably that far on the electricity generated by home mounted solar panels.

I mean... just saying.

You keep talking like this Paul and your blog will become the new Birdstress.

Comment added on 13 May 2009 by Jashbeiner

How much energy and money does it cost to trap and convert all of that cow waste into bio-gas? And once the process is started, I wonder how much this would reduce our dependency on foreign oil. Even a 5% reduction would be politically significant.

Also, on the solar panel issue, the research that I have seen suggests that, with low efficiency (about 20-25%), and short lifespan (about ten years before replacing), we have a lot of research to do before solar panels really start paying for themselves at a consumer-scale setup (like on a house as opposed to a solar plant). However, solar water heating tubes are very efficient and low cost. There is very little reason we can't install those on more houses, even in Oregon with its gray skies and all.

On the bright side, there is a lot of research going into solar technology with the new administration in White House (check this out: http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1329/).

Comment added on 16 May 2009 by Dan

Where's the button for retweeting this on Twitter?
That would be a trifecta of win.

Comment added on 19 May 2009 by Liir, AKA Mr "I'm Biogasing it

Whoa, some awesome stats here.

So here's what I'm thinking: what if we not only captured the gas from the excreted matter, but from the cow farts, as well? We could tether all the cows to home base with long tubes connected to their arses to prevent any of that gaseous gold from getting wasted.

It's thinkers like us that transform the world.

Comment added on 21 May 2009 by reed

also, kudos for the particularly relevant use of swearing in the title.

Comment added on 21 May 2009 by reed

the trick, as noted, is to efficiently gather & transform the ass energy into gas energy

Comment added on 21 May 2009 by hilker