1500-acre Lancaster Co. dairy farm runs on 'cow juice'

Centre Daily Times ^ | Apr. 26, 2008 | Michael Yoder

[freekitty]

I agree with you. It is a wonder that America still has people that can take an idea and run with it.

[Will88]

so ? they could be bring in about $ 20,000 a month from those homes.
In 5 months, they have $100,000, I am guessing this system will pay for it self in about 2 to 3 years. “

All this sounds fantastic. But they are selling it to the power company so I doubt they’d get full retail price. The power company should still get a cut for receiving the power from the dairy and distributing it over their power grid to customers.

[Retired Chemist]

Back in the ‘60s my hometown sewage plant had an engine that ran on methane gas from the break down of the waste. It ran a generator that produced electricity.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Ok,, cut the $ 20,000 in half, $ 10,000 a month.

[Techster]

Time to do the math. 4000 kilowatt hours a day at $0.05 kWh. That is $200 a day times 365 equals $73000 a year. That would take 13.7 years based on $0.05 per kWh. There is also the $4000 savings each month on bedding. So now we have $113000 in income or cost avoidance each year. That brings us to 8.85 years to recover $1,000,000. Return on investment 11.3%. Do your investments do that good?

[fightinJAG]

Interesting article—thanks.

I wonder if Michael Yoder is related to a Yoder’s Dairy down in the Virginia Beach area.

Anyway, the larger point from this article is this: alternative fuel sources will only develop once they are financially feasible and that will occur only when the price of oil goes higher than the market actually will bear.

If we were ever to run out of oil, truly, or have supplied cut off in a real way, America would go through a few rough patches, but before too long our engineers and entrepreneurs and everybody else in the ingenuity business would be coming up with all kinds of fixes to get the job done.

[fightinJAG]

Why don’t you shoot a link to this story to folks down there?

[fightinJAG]

I’m wondering why this digester has to cost $1M and, apparently, be viable only for large dairies.

The concept sounds like a tank with bacteria in it that digest the manure. Can’t that be made on a variety of scales?

[fightinJAG]

I’d rather have the guvmint subsidize this than corn production for ethanol!

[fightinJAG]

Your comment about a “regional need” for digesters got me thinking. Is this the sort of thing that manure (etc.) could be trucked to so that a bunch of producers in a region could dispose of their stuff this way and make electricity at the same time?

IOW, I know it would add to the cost to have to transport the waste, but might it be worthwhile in some cases? And is it doable?

[fightinJAG]

That’s pretty remarkable: just three or four cows produce enough methane to produce energy for an average home.

Another reason I'd say there's something intelligent about the design here.

[MplsSteve]

Excellent question. I don’t have the answer.

But I do know a number of groups and organizations have been crunching the numbers regarding transporting of manure.

In a previous post, I mentioned that there’s a power plant in western Minnesota that’s fueled by turkey droppings. There are many turkey farms in that area so the transport cost is pretty reasonable.

[upchuck]

Agreed!

However, I’d prefer the Imperial Government get out of farming altogether and let the free market take over.

Never forget why the government subsidizes - to influence behavior.

[count-your-change]

Actually I didn't offer any math, just a figure born of hyperbole. But if you want math, here goes.
If a kilowatt hour costs $.10 in Pennsylvania then the 4000 kilowatt hours per day would be $400 dollars a day or about $12000 dollars a month. Add the $4000 a month saved in bedding costs and you get $16000 a month x 12 months for a total per year of $192,000. Divide $1,000,000 by $192,000 and you come up with 5.2 years of savings and sales to pay back initial costs. Maintenance costs would extend that 5.2 years. I used a 30 day month and $.10 for convenience but the true figure will not be far off.

[JerseyHighlander]

The 2006 price of residential electricity in the United States is 10.4 cents per kWh. Might be slightly more in PA.

So at max of 4,000 kWh a day, it’s $400 a day.

So it’s less than 10 years for break even, and if the price of power continues to climb, it will be quicker.

There are grants and low interest loans available from the gov, local, state and Federal.

Looks like a reasonable investment.

[count-your-change]

Please see my post on the math.

[count-your-change]

Please see my post on the math.

[pointsal]

This must be a poster child for the democrat party, right?

[Techster]

Please see my post #25 on the math. Don’t think they can sell it at retail customer rate.

[Beamreach]

what would happen if city,county,& states used this for their waste systems.We could also use methane to run cars too,but I’m not sure of methane's viability for cars...