Project tour: Farm power

Farm Energy Projects from TerraPass

TerraPass' farm power projects are all about making the best possible use of animal waste. If you're squeamish about words like "manure" and don't care to envision exactly what "digested solids" are, here's the short story:

Your money helps farmers capture and destroy the methane, a powerful global warming gas which forms when managing animal waste. It supports the installation and operation of anaerobic digesters, lagoon covers, and electricity generators.

Not squeamish? Read on to learn about the farms we support and the amazing farmers who run them.

See our full project listing and audit information.

Featured farm power project: Holsum Irish Dairy, Hilbert, WI

About 30 miles south of Green Bay, Wisconsin 3500 cows chew their cud. While each one awaits her turn in the milking parlor, her chewing does more than fill her udders with milk. Dairy cows are well-fed so they produce lots of milk and, let's face it, cows are like people in that the more they eat, the more waste they produce.

When Holsum Irish welcomed its first cows, its waste handling system consisted of a flush system and a lagoon. Water ran underneath the barn's slotted floors, washing the waste into a large outdoor pond with bermed edges. And there it sat.

Underneath the liquid, the organic solids decomposed. Unlike compost-style processes which give off carbon dioxide - completing a balanced carbon cycle - the collected manure decayed without oxygen and hence produced methane gas, which bubbled to the top of the pond and escaped to the atmosphere. Methane is 21 times as damaging as carbon dioxide when it comes to global warming, so the methane's escape was not good for the planet.

Kenn Buelow, Holsum's manager, decided to install an anerobic digester. They're like a next-generation pond-- a waste receptacle with engineering added. Today, the digester and associated changes in waste handling allow Holsum to capture the methane and feed it to generators which power the dairy. The digester also transforms the products left over when the methane is gone. They're not waste. The digested solids are clean and used as cow bedding. The nitrogen-rich liquid is used as fertilizer and can now be pumped over the fields instead of trucked. It's a win-win-win-win.

TerraPass funding helps make it all possible. "There are a lot of parts to the digester operation that make it financially feasible," says Buelow. "It's difficult to do it without all these parts working together. The sale of the power generated by the digester, supplemented by the income from selling the carbon credits, along with the use of compost from the digester for bedding, has made it financially feasible to install and maintain the digesters. "

And it doesn't stop there. Like many of the farm projects we fund, Holsum has a broad view of environmental responsibility. The dairy joined Wisconsin's "Green Tier" program, and has adopted a comprehensive Environmental Management System consistent with the international ISO 14001 standard. Their track record is impressive and TerraPass is proud to have this farm as part of our portfolio!

Your carbon offset from TerraPass is always measured in "pounds of carbon dioxide". Carbon dioxide is the worldwide standard of measure for greenhouse gas emissions. When we fund a project that reduces methane, the project's beneficial effect is converted to "pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent," during the project's verification by a third party. To date, all farm power projects are verified using the Chicago Climate Exchange verification protocols.

Other recent farm power projects

Haubenschild Dairy

Haubenschild Dairy Farm, a small family-owned farm near Princeton, Minnesota, was among the first "dairy waste to energy" digesters in the U.S. and one of TerraPass' first projects. The digester biogas is used to power a generator to create electricity, which is fed back into the grid. In addition, the waste heat generated by the process is used to keep the barns warm. Finally, a portion of the biogas powers a 5 kW fuel cell that is being used by the University of Minnesota to conduct research into fuel cell technology. For more information, see our blog post or these articles

Vanderhaak Dairy

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 the digester their waste products, and the resulting methane powers generators which power the dairy's operations and sell the considerable excess power to the electricity grid. A Washington State University fact sheet provides a great detailed description of this project, and an interesting news feature story is here.

Bos and Herrema Dairies

Bos and Herrema Dairies are part of a four-dairy partnership where improved manure management techniques have been phased in throughout. Bos and Herrema's operations include plug-flow anaerobic digesters, electricity generation, and beneficial use of the digested solids. Some dairies use the solids onsite for cow bedding. This practice saves the dairies money since they no longer need to buy bedding materials, and also reduces environmental impacts since the material does not need to be trucked offsite for sale.