Killington, a large ski resort in Vermont, will use 300,000 kilowatt hours of electricity made from manure generated on 13 farms this year to run its K-1 Express Gondola, a spokeswoman for the resort told Reuters. The manure-generated electricity is distributed through a renewable energy program at Green Mountain Power.

Begun in 2004 by Central Vermont Public Service, which was acquired byGreen Mountain Power's parent company this year, the "cow power" program now generates five megawatts using manure from 10,000 of the state's 270,000 cattle.

Under the process, manure collected from barn floors is mixed with wash water from milking equipment. Bacteria in an anaerobic digester then process the manure slurry into methane gas, which is burned to generate electricity.

The program currently consumes 300,000 gallons of manure per day.

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According to Reuters, Killington is the first ski resort in Vermont to use manure power. PD

—From Reuters (Click here to read the full article.)