Belching their way into the news this weekend was 90 dairy
cows in the town of Rasdorf in central Germany. After high levels of methane
gas, from the cows was left to build up in a dairy shed, “a static electric
charge caused the gas to explode” causing a blast within the cow’s building.
Cows emit high levels of methane gas every day, up to 500
litres per day, which are leaving scientists questioning if to start
researching into how to turn “Burp-power into fuel.” But could other animals flatulence
could be converted into renewable energy? After all, don’t we all have dog that
farts and leaves the room? Instead of blaming the nearest person, could we not
be thinking about how to turn this gas into a way to power the TV?
Or is my head full of air? Is farting our way into the
future too extreme? Seems to me like one of Homer Simpson’s silly schemes.
However, how
different is it really to using animal waste for other things? After all, we have
been using horse manure on our gardens for centuries, recycling animal waste
into a different form and using it to our advantages. How different is using
animal flatulence to power our oven to actually using animal bodies to cook in
the oven? Surely this would be more kind and risk free for the animal, causing
it no pain and not having it being raised for slaughter.
Could we really gain all our resources from animals, with
cow’s contributing more to the welfare of humans than actual humans? After all
we already gain dairy products as well as meat from the animals, would it be
wise to gain renewable energy from them as well?
However, methane is a potent greenhouse gas. This would lead
to the contribution to global warming, changing climate changes, which could
result in the habitat of the cows not being suitable in a matter of years. Therefore
making the solution of “Burp-powered fuel” only a temporary solution, that is
if it isn’t in fact more of a problem than a solution.
