Vanderhaak Dairy

Project Type:

Farm power

Location:

Lynden, Washington

Start Date:

2004

Standard:

Chicago Climate Exchange

Verifier:

SES Inc.

The Vander Haak family has owned and operated Vander Haak Dairy, a farm near the Canadian border in Washington state, for almost 40 years. Late in 2004, the Vander Haaks installed the first dairy digester in the state to improve the waste management and environmental profile of their farm.

About 1100 milking cows feed their waste products into the digester, and generators utilize the resulting methane to power the dairy’s operations. The considerable excess power is sold to the electricity grid.

A Washington State University fact sheet provides a great detailed description of this project, and an interesting news feature story can be read here.