Biofuel source needs legislative attention

A recent letter from Mr. Myles of Aurora highlighted a potential energy source that is languishing for lack of legislative action at the state and/or federal level; energy from farm animals.

On most farms the manure is collected and put into farm ponds. The decomposition process generates, among other things, methane which escapes to the atmosphere. Methane is about 26 times more damaging to the global warming situation than carbon dioxide. in the atmosphere.

The technology to process farm animal manure into useful products is well documented. Unfortunately it is capital intensive and a farmer may not obtain an economic return. Simply put, the farmer installs an anaerobic digester and a biogas powered electric generator. The digester generates, among other things, a biogas which is usually 70 percent methane. The biogas will fuel the generator and provide electric power and heat for the use on the farm. At a minimum the farmer avoids buying "x" amount of electricity at the retail rate and "y" amount of propane or natural gas used to generate heat.

This cost avoidance is typically not enough to earn an economic return. The excess electricity could be sold to the utility. However, in most states there is no incentive for the utilities to make it easy for the farmer to sell the excess.

What is required is legislation that at a minimum requires utilities to allow the meter to run backward and generate a credit at the retail rate. Even better would be to pay a premium for the electricity generated and sold to the utilities. The best would allow for a high premium for time of day electricity generation.

These legislative actions, preferable at the federal level, will result in a large amount of biofuel electricity generated scattered around the rural areas of the United States, will significantly reduce methane escaping into the atmosphere, will reduce odor problems and minimize farm pond and lagoon problems.

Douglas A Dallmer

Naperville