CVPS Cow Power

Lien anglais, exemple  de production d'électrticité à partir de fumier de vaches laitières au Vermont. Central Vermont Public Service customers who want to support renewable energy and Vermont dairy farms have a new energy choice – CVPS Cow Power™. The Central Vermont Cow Power (CVCP) program is touted as the nation's first manure-based, farm-to-consumer energy program. Begun in 2004, the program continues to grow. The most recently added membership is the U.S. Forest Service's Rutland headquarters. Forest Service Supervisor Meg Mitchell says enrolling in Cow Power had a great impact. “We’re supporting a working landscape, helping to improve water quality and removing methane from the atmosphere.”

The Cow Power process is simple: manure and other ag waste are held in a sealed concrete tank at the same temperature as a cow's stomach, 101°F. Bacteria digest the volatile components, creating methane and killing pathogens and weed seeds. The methane, which is roughly 20 times more harmful than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere, fuels an engine/generator.

CVCP customers can choose to receive all, half or a quarter of their electrical energy through Cow Power, and pay a premium of 4¢/kilowatt hour. That fee goes to participating farm-producers, to purchase renewable energy credits when enough farm energy isn't available, or to the CVPS Renewable Development Fund. That fund provides grants to farm owners to develop on-farm generation. Farm-producers are also paid 95% of the market price for all of the energy sold to CVPS