This Company Uses Turkey Poop for Biofuel

To paraphrase Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park, this is one big pile of @#*&.

When you’re gorging on Thanksgiving turkey, you probably don’t give much thought to what becomes of the bird’s droppings. Why would you? I’d say turkey poop ranks alongside religion and politics for “undesirable dinner conversation.”

But one company, Xcel Energy, has been using turkey excrement for biofuel, and they’re suing to break their quasi-contractual agreement to buy the stuff.

Back in 1994, Minnesota signed an agreement with Xcel Energy’s predecessor for the latter to expand a nuclear waste storage site at the cost of generating or purchasing power from wind and biomass plants. The deal has since been partially annulled, but all changes still need to be approved by regulators.

And thus, Xcel Energy has been buying energy from Minnesota biofuel plants, one of which uses turkey poop. A whole bunch of it. 250,000 tons/year, to be exact.

But the company says the poo-fuel is too expensive, supposedly 10x more than wind-generated power, and according to the NY Times, Xcel Energy wants to buy and shut down one plant and end its contract with two others (only one of the three uses bird poop, however).

Meanwhile, loggers and truckers – fearing the employment lurch – have sued to stop Xcel Energy.

And why hasn’t this dispute attracted the national attention given to renewables like wind and solar? Turkey droppings are “not as sexy,” said Logan O’Grady of Clean Energy Economy Minnesota.

Understatement of the decade.

Read more here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/climate/turkey-droppings-biofuel.html