BioTown USA: Going Off the Grid
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA 
on 06. 5.06
The New York Times brings us the story of Reynolds, Indiana, a corn, soybean and hog farming town smack dab in the middle of America's breadbasket. The town, whose population has dwindled to just 533 residents, wants to secede from America's energy grid and power itself entirely with renewable sources, like its corn and pigs. The State of Indiana first brought the idea to Reynolds last year, calling it BioTown, in an experiment Gov. Mitch Daniels acknowledged could be viewed as a bit of "a stunt." But in the ensuing months, as the price of gasoline soared, Reynolds adopted the notion as its own, and residents began speaking passionately of an end to their reliance on foreign oil and of the potential electricity they could envision in the more than 150,000 pigs raised nearby. Since last November, nearly 100 of the community's residents have begun driving cars that can run on ethanol-based fuel, as has the employee who drives one of the town's three vehicles. The other two town cars have been replaced with diesel vehicles, so they can run on biodiesel.
And this month, officials here began work on a plant that would allow Reynolds to draw its electricity from pig and cow manure, as well as human waste (see our round-up of others realizing the power of poo here). After that, they say they want to make their own renewable natural gas with the methane from the waste of those same pigs, cows and people.
While some of the plan seems to have a pie-in-the-sky dreaminess to it, the small scale experiment might prove useful for other towns considering similar measures. There are lots of obstancles for Reynolds to achieve their off-grid goal, but we like the idea that going off the grid could be used for economic as well as environmental sustainability. Good luck, Reynolds! via ::New York Times
photo copyright Peter Thompson for The New York Times
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Why go off the grid? By connecting to the larger grid, Reynolds could get needed electricity in case of an emergency or stoppage to their production and they could contribute some of their (more) sustainable electricity when they produce more than they need.
It would at least be useful to tie to the national grid during the initial phases of this project.
That's pretty cool. There are several other communities scattered throughout Indiana and elsewhere in the Midwest that are already off-grid -- the Amish. They use low levels of inorganic fertilizers so they're not completely disconnected, but they don't participate in wholesale industrial agriculture also.
One of my biggest concerns with this kind of set-up would be soil depletion. If the town already depends on corn and pigs (plus soybeans) for income, how intense will their production have to be if pigs and corn are income and fuel?
The soil will be eventually become useless for farming. I hope they can take the long view of soil health in addition to the long view of gas addiction.
This is an excellent idea! And actually quite doable. Methane generators are simple mechanisms that trap the methane coming from the manure that is being decomposed via anaerobic bacteria. This methane can be used just like natural gas to power electricity generators. There are many dairies who make as much off of their methane generators as they do their milk!
As for the soil becoming depleted of nutrients, that won't happen. The article didn't say they were going to stop fertilizing. It just said they're going to use the pig manure and some of the corn in a different way. They'll very much most likely continue to fertilize as they always have been.
And the actual corn growers will still get paid for the corn as well, so won't have to cut back on fertilizing for lack of money. Being paid for the corn won't change ~ it'll just be their market for the corn that changes ~ instead of selling to someone out of town, they'll just be selling it to their town itself for them to use to produce the energy they need, which in turn will be sold to the townspeople.
Using the manure for methane generation won't affect the fertility of the fields either. It will simply be using a waste product that hog farmers previously had to pay to have disposed of or atleast not get any real benefit from. Unless they set up elaborate hot composting facilities, they certainly couldn't have used the manure for fertilizer. And even then, hog farmers don't grow their own hog feed, atleast most don't, so they wouldn't have had a use for it. And growers wouldn't have wanted to pay them for it since it's not as good a fertilizer as other, more readily available substances.
A bit more about that ~ hog manure isn't like cow manure in that it can be simply aged or cold composted and then immediately used as fertilizer. Since hogs are carnivores (omnivores really, but you know what I mean), their manure can carry toxic diseases and parasites detrimental to humans. But if it's used to produce methane, the production procedure should kill any diseases and parasites, providing they use the system correctly. Then they can simply spread the manure that comes out of the methane generator directly on the fields. The methane generation process doesn't strip any nutrients out of it either. Quite the opposite ~ it's simply composting it anaerobically, so the manure actually contains MORE useable nutrients once it comes out of the generator.
I think this is an excellent idea! Hurray for Reynolds! And may they succeed beyond their wildest dreams and become a role model for all of us!
Cool. Farming and household/restaurent food waste could also be used to produce ethanol/methane.
They should get a wind turbine too. Stay on grid and sell excess electricity. I would love to live in a town that was energy independant.
I am very excited and nervous about Bio Town! As a resident in Reynolds, I am intrigued by the changes. I am quite worried as well. My fears are stemmed from industry taking over our town. Our little town is mostly quiet and uninterrupted by crime. I don't want job opportunity to attract the wrong kind of people. A town just north of us was wonderful before the factory moved in. Now they have almost the highest crime rate in the county. Over run by meth-labs and bad people. I generally feel safe leaving my windows open at night, I don't want that to change!