Duke Energy, one of the nation’s largest power suppliers, has been at the forefront of sustainable energy technologies, including wind turbines and advanced solar power projects.
Their latest project, in partnership with Carbon Cycle Energy and announced on Monday, has been dubbed “excrement-to-energy” by the Associated Press.
Carbon Cycle Energy is planning to build an Eastern North Carolina facility to collect methane from cow and chicken manure and send it to Duke Energy power plants, where it will be converted into energy to power homes.
“When burned, methane emits about half the carbon dioxide that is emitted by burning coal. Burning coal introduces new carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, whereas burning methane releases carbon dioxide that would have come out anyway when animal waste deteriorates naturally,” Phys.org explained in a 2009 article.
The project is expected to begin production by next year.
