German town becomes world’s first

“What Can Brown Do For You?”

This memorable UPS slogan is being taken to heart by the German town of Lünen’s 90,000 residents, who will become the first in the world to use cow and horse manure for cheap green energy. Starting in December 2009, poo will be powering more than a third of the town’s heat and electricity.

How does it work? I’m so glad you asked. Animal waste and crops such as corn, wheat and grass from local farms are ahem, dumped into heated tanks, where natural fermentation breaks it down into methane and carbon dioxide.

This biogas is then burned to generate electricity and heat in a combined heat and power plant (CHP). The heat is then distributed across the town through a new biogas pipeline, which is being built underground using a horizontal drilling robot. A horizontal drilling robot? Yes really! We mention this only because a) it sounds really cool and b) roads are not disturbed, making for a viable model for other cities. 

The new sustainable solution isn’t causing a stink amongst residents, either; on the contrary, residents heating their homes with biogas won’t even notice a difference…or a smell. All they’ll notice is a savings of 30% or more on their energy bill. This is prompting other cities worldwide to stand up and take notice.

Lünen could become a model for the future of cheap sustainable electricity.

That’s really natural gas.