Solar and wind turbines are the most talked about renewable energy sources, but another unlikely source could help communities where they aren't ideal.
According to a blog post by Rose Morrison for Renewable Energy Magazine, manure can be used as an energy source. Modern tech can extract gas from the manure to create a fuel.
Livestock manure, such as from cows, is a good option, but Morrison argues that horse manure can be even better.
Horses don't need that long to digest food and process it — only 45 to 72 hours by some estimates — which makes them a reliable and abundant source, according to Morrison. Per the post and linked sources, cows only create about 18 gallons of wet manure daily, but horses can produce about 60 pounds.
Morrison also suggests that horse manure is drier, which makes it more effective as a fuel source. In addition, horses may have access to more nutritious feeds than cows, making their manure more nutrient-dense for creating power.
Anaerobic digesters and biomass boilers are types of technology required to create energy out of the manure. The anaerobic digester works like a human or animal digestive system. According to Morrison, "When waste accumulates, it contains methanogens that create methane gas from the fermented organic matter in the waste."
After the manure enters the renewable energy technology, the machine is kept at the proper temperature to process, and it harvests the methane from the methanogens. It's "then [turned] into liquid fuel for gas turbine engines," per Morrison.
Biomass boilers work differently. According to Morrison, this type of boiler — which is a less common technology than a digester — generates steam from the moisture of the manure, and the methane in the manure aids the process. The steam is then transferred to other machinery to push turbine drive blades to generate electricity.
"If more people learn about its full potential, it could revolutionize the modern push for green resources," Morrison wrote, referring generally to horse manure as a fuel source.
Only some places are suitable for using horse manure to create this kind of renewable energy. The cities most suited will be those with horse farms or other businesses with large numbers of horses because a substantial amount of manure is needed to create energy this way, as Morrison pointed out.
The idea of using manure to create power has been around for a while. According to E&E News by Politico, researchers at Cornell University began toying with manure digesters as early as the 1970s. There have also already been practical applications. For example, one farmer is using chicken poop to power his stove and car, and heat his water.
Fueling our world with biomass does come with some criticisms. As SolarReviews pointed out, manufacturing biomass fuel generally requires a lot of space, and using this fuel is ultimately more polluting than harvesting something like wind.
Using manure for fuel could be a step in the right direction, as it's better than dirty fuels like oil, gas, and coal. Methane is such a potent gas that, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, it can cause "one million premature deaths every year."
While animal poop may not be an option for you, there are ways to lower your utility bills and generate fewer polluting gases. Try washing your clothes in cold water, upgrading to LED bulbs (which could save you as much as $600 every year), and signing up for community solar.
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