A second plant that converts cow dung into energy for homes opened in the Netherlands.
Manure from cows at a nearby dairy farm will be fermented along with grass and food industry residues, and the biogas released during the process will be used as fuel for the thermal plant’s gas turbines.
The heat generated will be distributed to around 1,100 homes in the area around Leeuwarden in the north of the Netherlands, the plant’s operator Essent said in a statement.
Firms in Europe and elsewhere have been investing in biogas plants and this is the second of its scale running on cow manure in the Netherlands. It follows another plant that Essent opened in January.
Why is this restricted to cow poop? Seems to me any kind of poop could be used – along with the scraps and garbage our civilization manages to produce.
Biogas is biogas. The electricity and excess calories of heat produced won’t know the difference if it’s cow or human sourced.
Think of what we could get from a regular session of Congress.
Eideard 
Perhaps one day they’ll figure out that you could do the same with human waste. Imagine all the homes with septic tanks… just modify these tanks allow for extraction of the gas produced.
Human waste would be perfect to feed algae tanks growing bio-diesel.
There you go. Just need a business case.
Actually, I just need the money, say about $50 million. If you have an extra few million, feel free to use my idea.
Take some arid or semi arid flat land. Erect some clear “air houses” over top of shallow (3 ft deep) ponds. Grow your algae. Fertilize with human or pig manure*.
Algae have been developed that yield a high oil content (20,000 gallons / acre / year) only they are susceptible to disease and other algae if left in open pools. Protecting the pools with an air house will keep the algae clean and reduce water loss.
*Large pig farms often have a problem getting rid of their waste. Pigs produce twice the amount of feces /lb as do humans. Swines manure has terrible odor issues, much worse than cattle.
I’ll go out and harvest the money from my cash bushes.
Seriously… I hope they keep this in mind for future sewage plants.