Remains of the Day

Two natural gas stations in Indiana using cow manure opened a couple weeks ago and supply enough fuel to power 42 milk delivery trucks from nearby farms. This is good news/ bad news.

The good news is that it's a fascinating advance in creating an alternative to fossil fuel.  The bad news is that it means Fox News will have the power to go on forever.

Officials at the Department of Energy have called the program a "pacesetter."    The Fair Oaks farm cooperative that's involved has already been using its cow remains to create a great deal of electricity for themselves.  This new move takes it to the next step.  The New York Times has a detailed story about it.  Though this kind of biogas isn't the future of the industry, there are about 1,200 natural gas fueling stations in the country right now, and using such methane-rich "free" material creates a valuable, additional source of safer, cleaner fuel that is reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

The process uses the remains from 35,00 cows.  “As long as we keep milking cows, we never run out of gas,” the chief executive of the cooperative, Gary Corbett, said.  “We are one user, and we’re taking two million gallons of diesel off the highway each year.  That’s a big deal.”