Green Mountain Power in Vermont has an innovative program called Cow Power where they create electricity using methane produced from cow manure from 10,000 cows. Users who opt into the program pay a little extra. Farmers get extra money and use excess heat from the process to heat buildings.
[a farmer says] “With excess heat from the engine we’ve been able to heat a 2,600 square foot greenhouse where we raise broccoli and greens for the wholesale market all winter, and tomatoes and peppers in the summer. We also heat our machine shop with the excess heat, which means we buy way less heating oil. When people pay a little extra to buy GMP Cow Power, they are helping the environment, and they are helping Vermont farmers stay in business.”