With pressure to cut energy consumption rising, engineers at Hewlett Packard have come up with a novel idea to fix the problem. Cow power. According to HP, biogas derived from the cow manure could generate electricity for data centers.
In their paper, the engineers say 10,000 cows can produce enough manure to run a data centre. The paper says: "The manure produced by one dairy cow in a day can generate 3.0 kWh of electrical energy. For our hypothetical dairy with 10,000 cows, that is 30,000 kWh/day of electricity, (they would generate) enough power for an efficient data center."
Not a bad idea. But I have yet to come across any farm that has 10,000 cows. The biggest I have seen is 5000 and that was massive. Still, it's not that impossible. As reported here, there is a data center in England now working with a local famers' co-operative to use cow manure to power a combined heat and power plant that will provide electricity for the data centre. The process will also creates fertilizer, which can then be used on the farmland.
Potentially this is great news for farmers. As laws regulating greenhouse gas emissions become more stringent, farmers might be able to make enormous money from carbon offsets for capturing and reusing methane. It might just save the agricultural industry.
I shall be happy to receive any information on cow power and economically viable projects under operation