c.2008 Bloomberg News

By Jim Efstathiou Jr. July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Cows, pigs and chickens in the U.S. produce enough manure to supply 2.4 percent of the nation's electricity if it were converted into a burnable gas, an energy option overlooked by the government, researchers said. Igniting energy-rich biogas to fuel turbines would cut U.S. global-warming emissions from power generation by 4 percent, said Michael Webber, lead author of a study published today in the Institute of Physics' Environmental Research Letters. The paper is the first to assess the nation's ability to use livestock manure as a renewable fuel, said Webber, assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin. "It's a big enough number that we care," Webber said in an interview. "There's enough potential for biogas manure that it might be something policymakers consider."... [read full story]