The UK-based company Bennemann demonstrated a tractor being powered entirely by cow pies.
Cows get a bad rep from the environmentalist community, but has their methane gas-producing manure just been misunderstood? A UK-based company is now touting the benefits of cow pies, using a new method to turn livestock waste into clean, renewable energy.
“It’s a form of liquid gold, isn’t it?” farmer Katie Hoare said. “You can’t do much without slurry. It’s an incredible form of fertilizer.”
According to scientists, livestock is responsible for about 14% of greenhouse gas emissions.
The company behind the eco-friendly solution Bennemann created a way to capture the gas and process it in a way that the unusable gas sinks to the bottom and the clean gas rises to the top, producing about half-a-ton of usable fuel per day.
That fuel can be used to power a number of different things, including tractors. “We call this the T6180 Methane Power, but my children call it the cow fart tractor,” project manager Mark Howell told CBS News.
The smell is still less than palatable, but Hoare says it’s worth it. “Before, you’re in here cursing it and moving it around. Now you still curse a little bit but you just think of the greater good, don’t you? Because it’s doing amazing things,” she said.
