Dairy Powered by Manure from 4,000 Cows

A large dairy in the Ukraine is powered by the energy generated by the cows’ own manure. In fact, the cows generate a surplus of electricity that the dairy sells back to the electrical company:

The combined heat and power (CHP) plant–the first biogas cogeneration plant in the Ukraine–has successfully been powering the Ukraine Milk Company’s factory for 9 months with 625 kW of electricity and 686 kW of thermal output. That’s enough to fully power the factory and sell energy back to the grid. The advantages of using poop power are threefold: UMC improves its factory efficiency, cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions, and keeps excess manure out of the waste stream. After UMC’s manure goes through its biogas plant, leftovers can be used as agricultural fertilizer.

Link | Photo (unrelated) by Flickr user law kevin used under Creative Commons license