Killington Resort Gondola Now Powered by Cow Manure


© Killington

Killington Resort, in central Vermont, has upped its green game for the 2012-13 winter season, partnering with Green Mountain Power to run the K-1 gondola on electricity generated from cow manure.

Under GMP’s Cow Power program, manure is collected from Vermont’s dairy farms, converted into biogas and then into electricity. The manure comes 10,000 cows from 13 farms across the state.

Killington gives an overview of how the Cow Power program works:

Farms collect cow manure throughout the day, mixing it with wash water from the milking equipment which is then pumped into an anaerobic digester. The slurry flows through a digester for about three weeks at 100 degrees Fahrenheit allowing bacteria to convert the manure into biogas, about 60% methane gas and 40% carbon dioxide. The biogas is then delivered to a modified natural gas engine, which drives an electric generator to create electricity. Finally, the energy generated is fed onto the GMP electrical system which ultimately powers the K-1 Express Gondola.

Cue jokes about the Beast of the East now… Or, if you’re not a fan of the mountain, the quality of the terrain served by that lift.

Source Article from http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/killington-resort-gondola-powered-cow-manure.html

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