Drizzly Day. How Many Cows Per Gallon!

For the first time, for a long time, I have had the windows open all day. No AC on today! The cats have been able to stroll out onto the screen porch to sit and watch the drizzle coming down.

I have just been puttering around doing odd jobs, and catching up on emails. One thing I read was this: http://rvtravel.com/RVnews/cowgas.shtml and then this: http://www.hybridcars.com/fuels/poop-powered-cars-promise-25386.html which has a hilarious video of poop powered cars, especially the blokes at the end!

In 1999, I was in Dodge City, KS and whiffed what the citizens call the "Smell Of Money", the feedlots there. The whole city reeks of it. There are millions of cattle being kept captive in the feedlots all over the country. You think twice about eating beef when you see what those poor animals endure. Unfortunately they are fed food to gain weight, not what is good for them, but the poop is still there.

ABC News Said: "Cow Manure Could Be Cheap Alternative to Gas. A Cow Can Power a Car for 15 Miles a Day. The secret to cheaper gas could lie in cow dung.
What else are you going to do with all that manure? (ABCNEWS.com)
The Vehicle Research Institute of Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., has been turning cow manure into fuel that can power a natural-gas car. Researchers are not shoveling manure straight into the gas tank but pumping the methane -- a gas created by the manure -- into the car.
They have some hard-working cows at a dairy farm in Lyndon, Wash., to thank for this experiment, which could mean cheaper car fuel for many people.
"We are talking about dairy cows," said Eric Leonhardt, an engineering technology professor and director of the Vehicle Research Institute. "So they are very well-trained. They go in one spot. They feed and do their business in one location. And then that material is pumped into a holding tank."
For 21 days, the manure sits in an underground tank and stews. Then, using regular old garden hoses, researchers siphon floating methane out of the holding tank. They must purify the methane to remove other gases before pumping it into the car.
Every cow can produce enough manure in a day to make a car go about 15 miles. If you take 20 cows, you get 300 miles of gas in your car.
There are not enough cows in the United States to power every vehicle. But Vehicle Research Institute researchers say a natural-car powered by methane could be a great solution for certain rural communities.
The price of cow fuel will put some consumers, well, over the moon.
"The gas is currently being sold at one-fifth the pump price," Leonhardt said.
ABC News' Kate Snow reported this story for "Good Morning America."

Raising cattle generates more greenhouse gases globally than driving cars, according to a 2006 United Nations report on livestock. So why not harness it? It seems to me that Mother Nature has already given us an alternative fuel, considering how many cattle are raised for making hamburgers!!

Then there’s more poop technology. Israel and Korea are among the countries experimenting with using animal waste to generate electricity. Some of the biggest hog operations in the United States are working, with some success, to turn manure into fuel.

Just my thought for the day.