Town to turn stinking hog manure into power
Tue Sep 13,12:00 PM ET
They cannot escape the stench, but residents of tiny Reynolds, Indiana, hope the oceans of hog manure produced nearby will power their homes and businesses some day soon.
"We're very excited," town president Charlie Van Voorst. "They're advertising us as a showcase for the world."
Indiana's energy conservation-minded Gov. Mitch Daniels will take his ethanol-powered recreational vehicle to Reynolds on Tuesday to designate the single stoplight town the world's first "Biotown."
Initially, the 500 townspeople will lease or buy vehicles that run on high concentrations of corn-based ethanol or soy diesel from soybeans.
The second phase will install power-generating equipment that burns gas made from manure, said Deborah Abbott of the state agriculture department said. The electricity generated will power homes and businesses.
"The goal is to create a new use for the manure that's surrounding the town -- as a biofuel," Abbott said.
"The hog farms are all around us. We're used to that smell -- something we live with," Van Voorst said.
He added: "And they're talking about using our own (human) waste as a renewable resource."
Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited.
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