Cows play a big role in the gas industry’s survival plan
Dung and other organic material can be converted into renewable natural gas
New York — Polly is a 10-year-old Holstein cow, the oldest in a herd of about 300 on the Bar-Way Farm in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Together they produce 7,600l of milk each day. They also make enough poop to fill about two garbage trucks. The farm makes money from both.
In 2014 Bar-Way began working with Vanguard Renewables to install a biodigester, which uses specialised bacteria to convert organic material — for example, cow poop — into biogas, a versatile fuel. Once it’s purified, this biomethane, also known as renewable natural gas (RNG), is chemically identical to the main ingredient in the fossil-based natural gas that comes out of your stove or heats your water...
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