Students, staff, Oberlin homeowners and local activists crowded into the Environmental Studies Center last Monday to listen to Dairy Electric founder Keith Logan make the case for powering the city and College with biogas — a fuel produced by the anaerobic digestion of organic matter such as manure, crops and food waste.

In addition to informing the assembly about the many merits of biogas, the lecture served as a timely message to City Council, who will vote this coming Monday whether or not to re-invest money in coal power.

College Coordinator of Environmental Sustainability Nathan Engstrom introduced Logan, stressing the necessity of listening to as many ideas as possible in order to combat “skepticism that there are no alternatives,” which he sees as a prevalent sentiment in Oberlin and elsewhere.

In his speech, Logan made it clear that alternatives to coal are not only possible, but available and necessary. Along with biotech specialist Stephen Hoyt, he explained how a biogas plant can take food waste from local food processing plants and manure from local farms and convert these products into energy using a bacterial system that produces heat and electricity with negative CO2 emissions. A by-product of the process is its ability to function as an effective fertilizer with all the nutrients, but none of the dangerous pathogens or stench of manure.

Logan said he has traveled to cow farms near Oberlin and spoken with their owners and found that many farmers are interested in having their waste taken off their hands and put to good use; the methane released by the “lagoons” of manure kept by most cow farms not only smells terrible, but is 21 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas.

Before delving into why biogas is right for Oberlin, Logan described the worldwide movement — spearheaded by Germany — to embrace this fuel. Some countries in Europe even go so far as to run their public buses and trains on biogas and to subsidize its production by slightly raising electricity rates. Though the U.S. has over 100 manure-based fuel systems up and running, it is still far behind.

According to Logan, it is the perfect time for Oberlin to get on the bandwagon — Monday’s City Council vote presents a perfect opportunity to move away from coal. He noted that Ohio ranks third-highest in coal use nationwide, just after Texas and Indiana, and that government estimates see coal use climbing even higher.

Logan further explained the reliability of biogas, in comparison with wind or solar power, as well as its economic advantages. “It could save us a penny and a half every kilowatt hour,” he said. “Also, it’s a chance for Oberlin to demonstrate its commitment to renewable energy, and I don’t see why students couldn’t get involved in running the plant.”

Logan projected that a biogas manufacturing plant could potentially offset 1,280 tons of CO2 in heating and 7,200 in electricity, though it would take about 15 years of capital expenditure payback to finance.

To conclude the event, Engstrom spoke again, this time expressing his hopes that Logan and activists like him will “convince City Council to make a more appropriate decision” with regards to powering Oberlin. Biogas May Present Green Alternative to Fossil Fuels



Did you know?

• Biogas was used in the 10th century in Assyria to heat bathwater
• Ohio burns more than double the national average of coal every year
• Coal produces 37 percent of U.S. CO2 emissions but only provides 23 percent of our energy