Cow Manure: A Sustainable Heat Source for Millions of Homes
Sunday, 2025/12/21184 words3 minutes965 reads
In the quest for sustainable energy sources, British farmers are exploring an unexpected resource: cow manure. This waste product can be processed to produce biomethane, a renewable gas currently used to heat about one million homes in the UK.
The Green Gas Taskforce, a campaign group, believes there's significant potential to expand this. They estimate that up to 15 million homes could be heated using biomethane in the future. Richard Clothier, a dairy farmer in Somerset, has already embraced this technology. He describes cow manure as 'nature's crude oil' and has invested £4 million in a biogas plant on his farm.
The process involves collecting manure in large tanks and feeding it into an anaerobic digester. Here, bacteria break down the organic material, producing methane gas. This gas is then purified and injected into the national gas grid. Clothier's plant generates enough energy to power his family's cheesemaking business and heat 10,000 homes annually.
Despite these benefits, only 2.5% of the UK's cow manure is currently used for biogas production. The high installation costs of biogas plants remain a significant barrier for many farmers.
