AgSTAR Program encourages methane recovery
The AgSTAR Program is a voluntary effort jointly sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy.
The program encourages the use of methane recovery—biogas— technologies at confined animal feeding operations that manage manure as liquids or slurries. The technologies reduce greenhouse gas—methane—concentrations while achieving other environmental benefits.
Currently, 32 digester systems are in operation at commercial livestock farms. Many were installed during the 1990s in coordination with emerging state agricultural energy programs in Iowa, Minnesota and New York.
Since 1999, this system has produced more than 3 million kWh of electricity. The operating digesters prevented more than 4,800 metric tons of methane from entering the atmosphere—or the equivalent of about 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.