by Rebecca Walker — May 7, 2010—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a new interagency agreement on May 3 to promote renewable energy generation and slash greenhouse gas emissions from livestock operations.
The agreement expands the work of the AgStar program, a joint EPA-USDA effort that helps livestock producers reduce methane emissions from their operations. The beefed-up program will provide up to $3.9 million over the next five years to help the facilities overcome obstacles that prevent them from recovering and using biogas, the methane-rich gas produced by the decomposition of manure.
The collaboration will expand technical assistance efforts and improve technical standards for the construction and evaluation of biogas recovery systems. The partnership will also expand outreach to livestock producers and assist them with pre-feasibility studies.
Methane is a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, so capturing it and burning it yields a net reduction in greenhouse gases, say officials. To accelerate the decomposition of manure and the production of the methane-rich biogas, farms and livestock facilities can feed their manure into an anaerobic digester, which combines bacteria and elevated temperatures to “digest” the manure. Biogas emitted from the digesters can be used to produce electricity, heat, or hot water.
For more information, see the EPA press release.
