This is a nice example of turning lemons into lemonade by turning farm manure into energy.

One of the big environmental problems with dairy farms is the cow manure waste that’s produced. Some of it will be used as fertilizer but on larger farms, there are huge open pits that literally store millions of gallons of this noxious waste that can pollute nearby waterways and drive area residents into alternating fits of rage and misery.

Lochmead Dairy in Junction City, Oregon has devised a plan that recycles their manure waste into an energy source they can sell and also use themselves. As we see in the video, the manure digesters that they use recycles the manure into methane gas (for production of electricity) and afterward the remaining solid material can be safely used for other uses and the liquid remainder stored in an open pond for future use as fertilizer.

Methane gas is a potent greenhouse gas. According to the EPA, it’s impact on the atmosphere is 25 times more powerful than CO2. Converting manure into energy and other nontoxic uses also reduces the release of methane gas into the atmosphere.

Video courtesy of Rick Dancer.