By Maria Gaura
This story originally appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle
MARSHALL, Ca. - (May 2004) - After 25 years of persistent work, Marin County rancher Albert Straus has figured out a way to run his dairy farm, organic creamery and electric car from the manure generated by his herd of 270 cows.
Cheered on by a small gathering of engineers, environmentalists and fellow
farmers, Straus stepped into a utility shed Thursday, switched on a 75-
kilowatt generator, then stepped outside to snip the ribbon spanning a
spanking-new electrical panel.
On the panel, an electricity meter began running backward, indicating that
power originating from a nearby poop-filled lagoon near the town of
Marshall was feeding into PG&E's electric power grid.
ENVIRONMENTAL BREAKTHROUGH
"Well," said Straus, with an understated shrug, "that was exciting."
But for Straus, as well as for many of the spectators, switching on the
farm's new $280,000 methane digester system was not just a personal
milestone -- it signaled an environmental breakthrough for the state's
dairy industry.
While the technology for farm-based methane production has been around for
two decades, economics and resistance from the utility industry have
prevented all but a handful of California farmers from transforming their
animal waste into energy.
While there are 1,950 commercial dairies in operation in California --
which leads the nation in the production of milk and cheese -- and nearly
2 million dairy cows, Straus' methane digester is only the fifth now
operating in the state.
But thanks to two pieces of recent legislation, 13 additional methane
systems are now under construction, and renewable-energy advocates predict
that scores more are sure to follow. The Straus project is the first of 14
methane projects to receive matching funds from the California Energy
Commission, one result of the rolling blackouts that plagued the state
during the summer of 2001.
FUNDING ENERGY ALTERNATIVES
"There was an emergency session (of the state Legislature) to create fixes
to the energy problem," said Mike Marsh, president of Western United
Dairymen. "One thing they funded was renewable energy in the form of
methane digesters."
A $10 million pool of matching funds for farmers wishing to install
methane digesters was created that year, followed in 2003 by a law
allowing utilities to set up "net metering" agreements with small biogas
generators.
With net metering, small producers like Straus can reduce or erase their
energy bills but cannot be paid for pumping excess energy into the grid.
Net metering has been available to owners of home solar systems for
several years.
The Straus Farms' covered-lagoon methane generator, powered by methane
billowing off a covered pool of decomposing bovine waste, is expected to
save the operation between $5,000 and $6,000 per month in energy costs.
With those savings, Straus estimates he will pay back his capital
investment in two to three years.
GREEN INVESTMENT
But the benefits go beyond the strictly financial. An innovator who
converted his family's dairy to organic a decade ago, Straus is a
committed environmentalist who has worked for decades to make his
operation clean, sustainable and environmentally friendly.
In addition to the energy savings, Straus' new methane digester will
eliminate tons of naturally occurring greenhouse gases and strip 80 to 99
percent of organic pollutants from the wastewater generated from his
family's 63-year-old dairy farm. Heat from the generator warms thousands
of gallons of water that may be used to clean farm facilities and to heat
the manure lagoon. And wastewater left over after the methane is
extracted, greatly deodorized, is used for fertilizing the farm's fields.
"This is a great project, and I hope it will be replicated many times,"
Straus said.
Transforming animal waste into a useful product potentially could solve
some serious problems that accompany the dairy and livestock industries.
Despite their gentle demeanor and big brown eyes, dairy cows present some
troubling environmental challenges. A well-fed dairy cow produces 120
pounds of manure every day, or 40,000 pounds per year per animal.
Manure-laden farm runoff pollutes surface and groundwater with coliform
bacteria and nitrogen.
GASSY COWS
And then there's the flatulence.
Researchers have estimated that a single cow can emit 100 to 200 liters of
methane per day, not including the methane that continues to be generated
as bacteria break down the mounds of manure.
This naturally occurring methane is a potent greenhouse gas that
contributes to global warming. The environmental benefits of transforming
methane to energy are obvious. Even if the captured methane is simply
burned off with a flare, the result is more environmentally friendly than
letting the gas drift into the atmosphere.
Environmentalists see farm-based methane production as an elegant cycle of
reuse that transforms a series of waste products into useful new products.
But the technology has been slow to catch on in the United States because
historically there have been few incentives.
Utilities -- which can produce power more cheaply in a few large plants
using fossil fuels than through a network of small generators -- have
resisted allowing small generators to hook up to the energy grid, citing
worker safety and technology headaches.
DIVERSIFYING ENERGY PRODUCTION
But the state's continuing energy shortages have focused government
attention on creating new, more diverse sources of energy. And while
utilities remain focused on the bottom line, policymakers are trying to
factor in the widespread public benefits offered by pollution reduction,
reducing greenhouse gases and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
George Simons, a spokesman for the California Energy Commission's
renewables team, the group in charge of providing grant funding for
methane systems, said utilities are coming around to support methane
producers.
"There have been some difficulties in the past, but I believe that PG&E
ought to be congratulated for getting this (Straus Farms) project on
line," Simons said. "These projects produce a relatively small amount of
energy, maybe only 100 megawatts or so if all the dairies in the state
were hooked into the grid" -- while the state as a whole produces about
40,000 megawatts.
"These projects are small, but they are important," Simons said. "They
aren't that complex. They are very beneficial to the farm industry. This
is the way to go."
Copyright 2004 SF Chronicle
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