Radical Avenue

Americans love a challenge. The need for long term energy independence becomes more obvious with each passing day, but we just keep finding new ways of satisfying our voracious appetite for power. Politicians should take note of recent trends, which are turning farmers into sellers in the market for gas and electricity. Here are some examples of the new energy farms in action.

Methane
You wouldn’t normally expect to have a manure broker knocking on your door, but gas companies are looking at livestock waste in a whole new light these days. Pacific Gas & Electric recently opened a pipeline that will deliver methane to the utility from a manure to gas facility at a 5000 cow farm near Fresno, California. A machine called a digester converts the animal waste into energy. PG&E has announced plans to construct more methane pipelines in the coming years.

Biofuel
In the last century, public investment in biofuel often went toward the production of ethanol, made from corn in the US or from sugar in Brazil. Now our country has pivoted to switchgrass as a superior energy crop. Farmers can mow or bale switchgrass using conventional equipment. It’s a hardy, adaptable perennial native to the American plains. Once established, switchgrass can be harvested for 10 years or more before replanting. And unlike corn, switchgrass produces five times more energy than it takes to grow.

The Department of Energy oversees switchgrass farms in Alabama, Nebraska and the Dakotas. Environmentalists like switchgrass because the plant has a deep root system which uses water efficiently, retains nitrogen and prevents topsoil erosion. Switchgrass farmers also spend considerably less on tilling, planting and fertilizing, thereby reducing their own energy consumption.

Wind
Go fly a kite and you’ll feel the power of the wind pulling you across the yard. Wind turbines don’t spew carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases and don’t use water to generate power. Once a turbine goes up, no further energy is required to continue electricity production. There are over 2,000 wind turbines in West Texas alone, mostly situated on land leased from farmers and ranchers.

Our government hasn’t done enough to support clean energy projects and massive tax breaks to the oil companies won’t help. Oil companies don’t want to see farmers aggressively competing in American energy markets. But the rush to build the next generation of power plants has only just begun.

Methane, Biofuel, Switchgrass, Wind