Natural Gas Could Power New Chapter in Manure-to-Energy
At a few pennies per kilowatt-hour, farmers don’t make much from the electricity they generate from cow manure. So producers like Jason Burroughs are turning to markets clear across the country to sell a more promising type of power: renewable natural gas. “I think farms have a big opportunity to be part of the solution, basically from a lot of what we do every day,” said Burroughs.
California’s low-carbon fuel standard is driving changes in the way farmers like Burroughs turn manure into energy. After years struggling to make enough money from electricity sales to maintain aging generators, Burroughs and other farmers are switching to RNG, which generates credits for California’s low-carbon fuel standard program and could give new purpose to manure digester systems that might otherwise go idle.