Some groups say that we need to get rid of farm animals to save the environment, as the food they provide us with has too many costs associated with it. However, things are never as simple as they seem.
We need sustainable electricity production and as we said in our previous post burning wood for fuel has been found not to be the answer as it creates air pollution as well as raising CO2 emissions: cows may provide us with part of the solution.
Anaerobic digesters are useful as they get rid of waste and at the same time produce usable gas. The waste used to fuel them is being obtained from many sources and farm byproducts are becoming increasingly important. Slurry ( liquid excrement from farm animals) has been used as fertiliser on fields for centuries but for about 10 years has also been powering digesters on farms. Now waste from cheese making is too. Wensleydale Creamery to supply whey to Leeming biogas plant.
If the carbon footprint of farm animals was recalculated to factor in using their waste products or byproducts as biofuel, as well as looking at the sustenance they provide for us, we might get a different picture of how they would fit into a sustainable world. Biofuel from waste has got to be a better option than massive scale logging and replanting with crops intended to create biofuel.