[BiGG]

"The system is projected to generate approximately 6.5 million kilowatt hours annually from the waste of about 800 milk cows, an output that is sufficient to supply approximately 600 homes."



Environmental Power Corporation (AMEX:EPG), in collaboration with Dairyland Power Cooperative, is formally commissioning the first of its electricity generating anaerobic digester systems. A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held on June 22, at the Five Star Dairy in Elk Mound, WI, to commemorate this. The ceremony will feature a facility tour and brief remarks by William Berg, president and chief executive officer of Dairyland Power Cooperative, Frank Frassetto, Wisconsin state director for USDA Rural Development, Joseph Cresci, chairman of Environmental Power Corporation, and Agricultural Minister Counselor Steen Thorsted of the Royal Danish Embassy in Washington, DC.

This facility has been designed and constructed by Microgy, Inc., Environmental Power's principal operating subsidiary. The facility is believed by Microgy to produce substantially more electricity from a given quantity of animal and organic wastes than any other anaerobic digester system built for commercial purposes in the United States. The facility is the first installed in the United States utilizing a proven Danish technology licensed exclusively to Microgy for deployment in North America. The system is projected to generate approximately 6.5 million kilowatt hours annually from the waste of about 800 milk cows, an output that is sufficient to supply approximately 600 homes.

Joseph Cresci stated "The commissioning of this system is the first step toward what we believe will be an important role for this superior technology in helping our country cost-effectively meet its growing energy demands while protecting the environment."

In addition to producing renewable energy, anaerobic digesters are recognized as a solution to environmental and regulatory compliance issues related to animal waste disposal. Microgy's system can help farmers reduce ground and surface water pollution and minimize odors while freeing land for increased herd sizes, which is expected to help lower farm operation and maintenance costs. Anaerobic digesters also produce residual byproducts, including compost, bedding materials and pollution management credits that can serve as additional sources of revenue.

"Environmental Power Corporation is committed to developing renewable and alternative energy facilities. With our first-mover advantage in producing biofuels from agricultural waste management processes, we hope to continue leading the way in the growing market for 'green' energy," said Kam Tejwani, president and chief executive officer, Environmental Power Corporation. "This event showcases Microgy's unique technology and celebrates our collaboration with Lee Jensen of Five Star Dairy, Dairyland Power Cooperative and Dunn Energy. We look forward to the construction and installation of additional anaerobic digesters with Dairyland Power Cooperative."

"This alliance with Microgy enables Dairyland to expand our renewable energy portfolio as part of our long-term plan to use clean, cost-effective sources of electricity. Increased demand on our system will be eased by this waste-to-energy generation, which is good for our cooperative members and the environment," said William Berg, president and chief executive officer, Dairyland Power Cooperative.

ABOUT Environmental Power Corporation: Environmental Power Corporation is a developer, owner and operator of renewable energy production facilities. Its principal operating subsidiary, Microgy, Inc., holds an exclusive license in North America for the development and deployment of a proprietary anaerobic digestion technology, which transforms manure and food industry waste into methane-rich biogas that can be used to generate electricity or thermal energy, or refined to pipeline-grade methane for sale as a commodity. This technology also represents a potentially profitable solution for the nation's estimated 3,500 large animal feeding operations as they seek to comply with a growing number of proposed and adopted mandates developed by federal, state and local officials aimed at regulating the management of farm waste. For more information visit the Company's web site at www.environmentalpower.com.

About Dairyland Power Cooperative: With headquarters in La Crosse, Wis., Dairyland provides wholesale electricity to 25 member distribution cooperatives and 20 municipal utilities. Dairyland's service area encompasses 62 counties in four states (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois). Dairyland has provided low-cost, reliable electrical energy and related services to its customers in the upper Midwest for over 63 years.

[Dezakin]

6.5 million kilowatt hours annually from the waste of about 800 milk cows, an output that is sufficient to supply approximately 600 homes.

There's something funny about those numbers.

Theres 8760 hours in a year right, so that means that you have an output of about 742 kwatts. Is the average home consuming only 1.2 kwatts? seems a bit low...

Does the average cow produce almost a kwatt in poop? That seems a bit high. I guess it could be right.

[DriveElectric]

"The system is projected to generate approximately 6.5 million kilowatt hours annually from the waste of about 800 milk cows, an output that is sufficient to supply approximately 600 homes."

1.33 cows per home? That seems a bit too optimistic to me also.

If that were enough, I'd buy two cows and a 60" Plasma TV since I have so much extra electricity coming my way.

[eric_b]

f*cking troll

[DriveElectric]

f*cking troll

Who would that be?
BiGG with 800+ posts?

That is mighty serious dedication.

BiGG might be overly optimistic, but that hardly qualifies for the tittle of "f*cking troll".

[turmoil]

BiGG might be overly optimistic, but that hardly qualifies for the tittle of "f*cking troll".

dude...that was eloquent. chill eric

BiGG, these renewable energies will only help the transition. All we have to do is meet them half way with better policies, incentives, energy ethics, and population control (a tall order no doubt). High oil prices will hopefully remind people that there is no free energy lunch.

[Jack]

This begs the question - can bull manure generate significant quantities of electricity, just like the cow manure?

If so, limitless growth must surely be within our grasp.

[BiGG]

BiGG, these renewable energies will only help the transition. All we have to do is meet them half way with better policies, incentives, energy ethics, and population control (a tall order no doubt). High oil prices will hopefully remind people that there is no free energy lunch.

I agree. Everything you are saying can & will happen as these new technologies replace oil. I think many here just don’t understand prudent macroeconomic considerations dictate things changing in an orderly fashion and I for one believe that’s just exactly what will happen.

[BiGG]

This begs the question - can bull manure generate significant quantities of electricity, just like the cow manure?

If so, limitless growth must surely be within our grasp.

Jack ol’ buddy! A cow doesn’t need nads for this process, its just need to shit and with 95+ million head in the United States, & 14+ million head in Canada ……… I’m seeing a whole bunch of electricity. Cool ain’t it! Cow shit was a real environmental problem in the past and nothing like making it into a win, win situation now. Think of the swine & poultry also btw, very exciting news for sure!

[Jack]

Bigg, you are without a doubt the most enthusiastic fellow I have seen in awhile.

I am reminded of two brothers - one was always an optimist, and the other a pessimist. On Christmas day, the pessimist was given every good thing imaginable - he remained sad, because he was certain that the things would break or be lost. The optimist was given nothing but horse manure. He went about happily, because he was certain that Santa had left him a pony.

You may find that the future will make many demands on your optimism.

[Chicken_Little]

This begs the question - can bull manure generate significant quantities of electricity, just like the cow manure?

If so, limitless growth must surely be within our grasp.

Jack ol’ buddy! A cow doesn’t need nads for this process, its just need to shit and with 95+ million head in the United States, & 14+ million head in Canada ……… I’m seeing a whole bunch of electricity. Cool ain’t it! Cow shit was a real environmental problem in the past and nothing like making it into a win, win situation now. Think of the swine & poultry also btw, very exciting news for sure!

So if we just had about 350 million cows we wouldn't need any other sources of electricity in the U.S.?

As for transportation fuel we just use recycled turkey guts.


I'm starting to like this guy. Nothing's a problem for him. How things look when his meth pipe is empty is another story.

[FoxV]

I don't think Bigg's optimism is totaly unjustified. I personally believe within a few more years we'll have enough break throughs to be able to replace oil entirely (including conservation and proper urban planning).

However what I also believe is that we don't have nearly enough time to implement the alternatives on a scale that would even partially replace oil. And with the coming economic melt down, we won't have the money.

Just take yourself for example; if electric cars and cheap $1/W solar cells were available tomorrow, could you buy them (an investment between $30K and $50K). I know I couldn't. Add to this that you may not have a job by this time next year, and now we can see reality and the possibility of Die-Offs despite having lots of available oil alternatives

[RG73]

Jack ol’ buddy! A cow doesn’t need nads for this process, its just need to shit and with 95+ million head in the United States, & 14+ million head in Canada ……… I’m seeing a whole bunch of electricity.

Those 109 million head of cattle are grown with fossil fuels. You can't support nearly that many cattle without antibiotics and corn and everything else that comes with modern cattle farming. And if we don't have fossil fuel based fertilizers and pesticides, we're going to have to go organic. And if we go organic, we're going to have to use land to actually feed people. And if we have to use that land to feed people, we're going to have a whole lot less cows. Which is to say this is a lovely niche application, and its treating waste and getting electricity is great, but we're not going to be powering cities with this. You'll power the dairy farm and the nearby village. You're not going to keep the a/c running in a skyscrapper on cow shit.

[Dezakin]

I don't think Bigg's optimism is totaly unjustified. I personally believe within a few more years we'll have enough break throughs to be able to replace oil entirely (including conservation and proper urban planning).

Certainly waste processing is neat stuff, from cow manure to turkey guts. Whether it actually plays a part in the energy mix is a different question.

However what I also believe is that we don't have nearly enough time to implement the alternatives on a scale that would even partially replace oil. And with the coming economic melt down, we won't have the money.

Oh I doubt that. We know how to build nuclear plants today and if there was a huge economic meltdown, many unemployed workers willing to build them. We aren't anywhere near some end of the world scenario. Maybe near a big recession or depression but not some stupid die off greater than any seen since the black death. Thats beyond ludicrous to anyone that takes an honest look.

The only thing that would produce a die-off will be war, not economic collapse, and war has become less and less likely as technology advances.

Those 109 million head of cattle are grown with fossil fuels. You can't support nearly that many cattle without antibiotics and corn and everything else that comes with modern cattle farming. And if we don't have fossil fuel based fertilizers and pesticides, we're going to have to go organic.

Also dubious. We can readily synthesize fertilizers and pesticides using nuclear energy inputs. Maybe cows do represent an extra 100 gigawatts of electrical generating capacity (though I'm highly skeptical) but even if they don't its not the end of modern farming.

[RG73]

You aren't going to make fertilizer and pesticide with nuclear power. Sorry.

Why have half the fertilizer makers left the US? High natural gas costs. Obviously making fertilizer with nuclear power--available in the US--is much more expensive than moving the factory to a continent with readily available natural gas. Farmers are already having a difficult time turning a profit with current fertilizer/pesticide costs--these things are only going to become more expensive if you have to synthesize them from other substrates at a much higher energetic cost. So dubious my ass.

Nevermind that the entire cattle herd is probably on borrowed time anyway and BSE will necessitate us culling the herd. Nevermind the amount of water all those cattle require. Look the inputs necessary for maintaining the 1.3 billion cattle in the world and the 6 odd billion humans in the world are not infinite. You can't keep synthesizing stuff--nevermind that it is energetically unfavorable and economically impossible--resources are finite. Modern farming has had a huge impact on the environment and is not sustainable, even beyond the fact the disease threatens it, that climate change threatens it--there isn't enough water, enough soil, and no, not enough energy that you can throw at it to keep it going.

[Dezakin]

Why have half the fertilizer makers left the US? High natural gas costs. Obviously making fertilizer with nuclear power--available in the US--is much more expensive than moving the factory to a continent with readily available natural gas. Farmers are already having a difficult time turning a profit with current fertilizer/pesticide costs--these things are only going to become more expensive if you have to synthesize them from other substrates at a much higher energetic cost. So dubious my ass.

Not the most convincing argument when food is cheap as dirt and the government has to pay farmers to farm.