What does a Pennsylvania potato farmer’s question at a Joe Biden Town Hall have to do with North Carolina? A lot, actually. It’s not so much about the question, however, as it was about the answer — an answer which had North Carolina written all over it.
Specifically, Vice President Biden cited the potential to make valuable renewable energy and other products from methane harvested from livestock manure and agricultural waste. He described how farmers can make money while meeting environmental standards and climate targets. That’s good for North Carolina, particularly because North Carolina has a lot of manure it could be turning into methane and other value-added products.
North Carolina ranks among the highest in America in terms of methane — or biomethane — potential. While Mr. Biden, as the American Biogas Council described, didn’t give a “textbook” explanation of “how biogas systems can recycle farm wastes to generate revenue and better protect the environment,” it was clear that was at the heart of his answer.
Basically, Joe Biden signaled he knows that turning cost centers, like manure management, into profit centers — like renewable energy and value-added products — is good for farmers. It’s also great for North Carolina. A 2016 study estimates developing the state’s biogas would support approximately 2,200 new jobs for a decade and a half to come, or 34,000 job-years.
The methane to which Mr. Biden referred is the primary component in natural gas. Whether derived from biologic or geologic sources, it heats water, makes steam and electricity, cooks food and fuels vehicles just the same. The advantage of biologically sourced methane, however, lies in the host of other benefits it provides. For instance, natural gas made from renewable sources — renewable natural gas (RNG) — provides a non-fossil alternative to natural gas. And, instead of drilling, biomethane feedstocks sit on top of the ground.
Compared to other renewables, RNG can be stored, is available around the clock and is not subject to intermittency issues. There’s also a lot of bang for every buck spent on turning methane into RNG because methane is at least 25 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, so controlling it results in a lot more climate change benefits and commands a higher value for controlling.
Mr. Biden invoked two examples to illustrate his methane point, both of which resonate in North Carolina. The first included a project at a poultry processing facility that turns its waste into RNG and fertilizer. According to a local news outlet, the fertilizer that the facility will make will be “easier and safer to store, ship and use than manure,” and will help it meet standards that will protect water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.
Vice President Biden’s second example centered around the use of livestock manure to make RNG. Dairy and swine manure in particular produce high-value RNG, which transportation fuel producers seek to reduce their fuels’ overall greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, swine manure is so valuable that big agriculture and energy players like Smithfield Foods and Dominion Energy have invested $500 million to take waste stored in North Carolina lagoons and in other states to make RNG.
For farmers, turning manure into renewable energy and other value-added products means crucial new income streams and easier ways to meet environmental standards. For rural communities, it means jobs, the establishment of new businesses, an increased tax base, and better environmental outcomes.
For the state and utilities, capturing methane from manure and turning i into RNG moves both closer to meeting clean energy targets. What’s missing is leadership, which Joe Biden showed when he invoked methane and manure in answering the farmer at the Town Hall. Mr. Biden also showed that if he wins, so will North Carolina.
Tanja Vujic is the Director of Biogas Strategy for Duke University and an Assistant Professor of the Practice at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.
https://www.fayobserver.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2020/10/11/value-manure-harvesting-methane-good-environment-nc-economy/5927848002/