Moola the Cow and the Anaerobic Digesters

Every now and then you come across something that is just to good to pass up. This past week’s Business Week magazine contained a story about the massive amounts of manure in Stephenville, Texas, home to a plethora of Texas dairy farms. An equally massive fiberglass bovine named Moola the Cow is plopped right down in the middle of the square in tribute to the area’s primary agricultural product.

Of course, downwind of Stephenville is another story altogether. Those of you who yearn for an idyllic life in the country most likely haven’t lived there. Life on the farm has many advantages. Fresh air isn’t one of them.

But do not run away, green technology will save the day. A company named Microgy came riding into town with a holster full of federally backed green dollars to build a poop to gas plant (technical name: anaerobic digesters). Huzzah!!! The town was thrilled that this green upstart outfit was going to take the cow manure off of their hands and boots, and turn it into pipeline quality natural gas.

The technology is not new. The article says that it is popular in China and Europe. Notwithstanding, you need a visual of what has become the largest poop to gas operation in North America: 73 acres of putrid animal waste being dumped into eight 5 story towers. Water is then pumped in at the top, and a new definition of trickle-down economics is born. Each tower contains 916,000 gallons of this slushy manure/water mixture, and organisms digest the decaying the manure producing methane which is captured then refined into natural gas. Mmm – Mmm- Mmmm. Get me a job there.

In theory, this facility can produce enough natural gas to service 10,000 homes. It had supply contracts with utility companies all over the western part of the United States. But as luck would have it, the process is relatively expensive as is all green technology. In case you didn’t know, as the price of gasoline has gone up, the price of natural gas has gone down. Part of the problem is that the economics of the plant contemplated the trading of energy credits under the moribund cap and trade (tax) bill which never passed Congress. The parent company of Microgy got flushed down the bankruptcy crapper (I couldn't resist).

Not to worry. Another company, Element Markets rode into town on a white horse and “scooped up” the company for pennies on the dollar. The owner of Element Markets learned the energy business while working at Enron. After several Senate investigations, he came out smelling like a rose. Get it? Smelling like a rose. Yuk Yuk. And that’s the rest of the story, so to speak. Doesn't that make you feel real secure?

In all seriousness, poop to gas may sound funny, but I am true believer that we need to do everything we can do to gain energy independence. With our government choosing electricity as the alternate energy of choice, we need plentiful and renewable supplies of fuel to drive the turbines. Organic waste is a no brainer available from farms, garbage dumps and municipal sewage treatment plants. I’m for it. You should be too. Just not in my back yard, unless they had some huge fans or something to blow the odor towards Pa.

I wonder what Moola the Cow thinks?

Based on an article by Paul Barrett, Bloomberg Business Week, "Poop to Natural Gas Makes a Stink in Texas."