It’s definitely not new news that cow farming produces a ton of methane, a greenhouse gas worse than carbon dioxide, but until recently there wasn’t anything hugely beneficial to do with the decomposing manure. Sure, it makes great fertilizer, but most Americans cringe at the thought of anything they put in their mouths growing in poop. In the covered wagon days, cow patties were used for fires and fuel, but not anymore… until now.

Dairyman David Albers has started The Vintage Dairy Biogas Project which aims to power 1200 homes on natural gas derived from cow manure. Here’s the basic process:

To tap the renewable gas from cow manure, the Vintage Dairy farm first flushes manure into a large, octagonal pit, where it becomes about 99 percent water. It is then pumped into a covered lagoon, first passing through a screen that filters out large solids that eventually become the cows’ bedding.

Weights on top of the digester channel the gas to the small facility where it is “scrubbed” of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. The end product is “close to 99 percent pure methane” according to BioEnergy Chief Operating Officer Thomas Hintz.

The methane is then injected into PG&E’s pipeline, where it is pumped to a power plant in Northern California.

There are other manure lagoons in California, but no other ones are taking advantage of this business opportunity. Let’s hope the extra revenue can entice some other handlers to take David Albers lead. Harnessing this powerful greenhouse gas is a huge step towards reducing the threat of global warming, besides, using waste for energy is one of the most natural and sustainable actions we can and should take.