Cows as Fuel
I always find the concern over farm animals creating global warming to be a curious one. The latest screaming headline out is “Cows With Gas: India’s Contribution to Global Warming” We read a lot about how these cows can’t be stopped from putting methane into the air because giving them better feed or medicine to stop the methane release is beyond the reach of poor farmers. It is not until the end of the article that we read:
One long-running project has been biogas production – cow dung is utilized to make biogas for use in kitchens and even compressed biogas for use in vehicles. “Biogas plants have been very successful,” says R.K. Rajeshwari, a fellow at TERI, “Farmers are able to use biogas in their kitchens, to light lamps and to even drive vehicles.” Such projects, she says, have been particularly successful at gaushalas, cow shelters supported by donations from the devout and by government grants, of which there are 4,000 across India now. Most gaushalas are for abandoned, dry and aged cattle, of which there are many since killing cows is illegal in all but two states (the communist-ruled West Bengal and Kerala). “This way they are put to some use at least,” says Rajeshwari, “And by replacing conventional sources of energy, they help prevent global warming.”
I mean, yeah, hello, we’re facing a worldwide energy shortage soon and we’re trying to stop methane gas from being produced? We should be finding ways to harness all this cow flatulence! (Humane ways, of course.) I recently saw something on TV where cows would wear something around their necks that would collect their methane breath. Why not find a way to collect methane from the air around farms? Cow flatulence as fuel, why not? Just think – natural gas will have a brand new meaning some day.
