logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2020
9m 39s

Food Waste + Poop = Electricity

NPR
About this episode
Some dairy farmers in Massachusetts are using food waste and manure to create renewable energy. Each farm produces enough to power about 1,500 homes. Not only does this process create electricity, NPR Science Correspondent Allison Aubrey tells us it also prevents the release of methane, a greenhouse gas. Follow Short Wave's Emily Kwong on Twitter @emilykwong1234. Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy
Up next
Today
Should race affect BMI guidelines? Doctors are split
BMI is a quick, cheap way for doctors to estimate body fat and screen for conditions like heart disease and diabetes. But medicine has long known that BMI is problematic and unnuanced. By using it, groups of people have fallen through the cracks and conditions have been caught la ... Show More
13m 47s
Sep 11
How scientists discovered that animals are doctors, too
When people are sick, we seek out medications and treatments to help heal. For a long time, scientists thought that was a uniquely human ability. But it turns out, many other animals do a version of it too! And since the late 1980s, western researchers have been trying to get a p ... Show More
13m 24s
Sep 9
Lindsay Clancy and postpartum psychosis
The trial around Lindsay Clancy may be over for now, but it still leaves us with questions. On today’s episode, we talk to psychiatrists and patients to answer them: What is postpartum psychosis, exactly? Why don’t we know more about it? And what can you do if you are worried abo ... Show More
14m 10s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2017
Cutting Cow Farts to Combat Climate Change
Methane emissions from the burps and farts of livestock accounts for around 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions. But the trick to reducing this could lie with some of Kenya’s smallholder farmers. By using very simple techniques to transform the way they manage their soil and a ... Show More
19m 9s
Aug 2021
Cow and sewage treatment
S2 Ep8. A cow’s amazing stomach could hold the key to stopping wastewater pollution. Engineers have designed a new sewage treatment plant based on a cow’s unique digestive process. Wastewater is progressively cleaned by microorganisms until it’s safe enough to be released into th ... Show More
15m 41s
Jan 2024
Solving the cow burp problem
Agriculture in the U.S. produces more methane than the American oil and gas industry, and the biggest share of that agricultural methane is from enteric fermentation – essentially cow burps. Cows and other ruminant animals release methane because of the way they digest food. And ... Show More
42m 1s
Apr 2016
C is for Compost
Episode 03: Composting is the act of rotting down old food and paper to make soil! Composting at home for just one year can save global warming gases equivalent to all the carbon dioxide that your kettle makes in the same time!Join Fun Kids Podcasts+: https://funkidslive.com/plus ... Show More
4m 52s
Mar 2023
Betting big on renewable natural gas
Landfills, dairy farms and wastewater plants all emit methane, the potent greenhouse gas produced when organic material decomposes in the absence of oxygen.  But instead of emitting that methane (often called biomethane or waste methane), it’s possible to capture and refine it, r ... Show More
43m 36s