US agencies to help livestock producers capture methane gas

USDA and the Environmental Protection Agency will provide up to US$3.9 million over the next five years to help farms recover and use biogas.

The collaboration will expand technical assistance efforts, improve technical standards and guidance to construct and evaluate biogas recovery systems, expand outreach to livestock producers and assist them with pre-feasibility studies.

The agreement expands the work of the AgSTAR programme, a joint EPA-USDA effort that helps livestock producers reduce methane emissions from their operations.

Biogas is composed primarily of methane, a greenhouse gas the agencies said is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Biogas emitted from manure management systems called digesters can be collected and used to produce electricity, heat or hot water.

About 150 on-farm manure digesters are now operating at US livestock facilities. In addition, EPA estimates there are about 8,000 farms across the US that are good candidates for capturing and using biogas.

If all 8,000 farms implemented biogas systems, the agencies said methane emissions would be reduced by more than 34 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, roughly equal to the annual emissions from 6.5 million passenger vehicles. In addition, these projects could generate more than 1,500 megawatts of renewable energy.