Car emmissions or Cow Farts

[CliveV]

ROME, 29 November: Which causes more greenhouse gas emissions, rearing cattle or driving cars? Surprise!

According to a new report published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the livestock sector (husdyrbruget) generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent - 18 percent - than transport. It is also a major source of land and water degradation (nedslidning).

Says Henning Steinfeld, Chief of FAOs Livestock Information and Policy Branch and senior author of the report: - Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to todays most serious environmental problems. Urgent action is required to remedy the situation.

With increased prosperity, people are consuming more meat and dairy products every year. Global meat production is projected to more than double from 229 million tonnes in 1999-2001 to 465 million tonnes in 2050, while milk output is set to climb from 580 to 1043 million tonnes.

More at:-

http://www.u-landsnyt.dk/nyheder.asp?ID=10699
According to the report there is a move to feed our cattle less methane inducing feed, but no punitive tax on meat production - just a system of easy to defraud handouts via the Common Agricultural Policy. Which despite my support of the EU in many things - the CAP truly beggars belief.

The odd thing is my vehicle now runs on a mixture of Methane and Propane (LPG) and yet cows are allowed to simply Fart all this wonderful clean energy source into the atmosphere where it is apparently about 25 times more powerful as a Global Warming pollutant than CO2.

 

[Guest]

Does this mean that if we put cows on roller blades with some kind of after burner that they could power themselves along the grass verges to market and the abatoir and cut down on the need for cattle trucks polluting and clogging the roads?

 

[CliveV]

All I know euro is that it is not just cows - our horse when we saddled her up would have the girth tight but after a warm up where she produced the most amazingly loud farts everytime she canterred. All horses do this, as would we if we had nothing but vegetables.

You really had to watch out because often this had myself and my son in such fits of laughter that after a mile or so we were incable of tightening the girth from the saddle, something that is quite easy to do if you are a reasonable rider.

You know how it is! - you laugh so much you loose the ability to do even simple things!!

But on a serious note - I was aware of the problem but not the order of magnitude. It seems that because methane is 25 times more powerful as a "global warmer", the livestock in the UK produce more greenhouse gases than all forms of transport combined!

 

[Guest]

I have ridden a few and they were BIG to take my size, I saw a vet "explode" a pig once for an Autopsy after it had gone mad and eaten EVERYTHING in its yard and sty.

The poor animal was the size of a small airship with the gases produced by the digestion system !

 

[CliveV]

What a shame! - I could have run my Discovery on those gases!

 

[Guest]

It truly could have been the fabled "flying Pig".

 

[emmerson2]

What a shame! - I could have run my Discovery on those gases!

Hi clive, how's the lpg conversion/which type did you go for? I've always had single point systems, but I'm told that multi-point gives better perfomance and economy. My 4.2 is currently doing 3.1 per litre average, so I don't think I'll beat that.