Toyota is Creating a Power Plant That Turns Cattle Waste into Electricity & Hydrogen

Toyota is taking the reduce, reuse and recycle movement to a whole new level. They’re now working on creating a power plant that will turn cattle manure into hydrogen, solving two major climate change issues at once.

The company recently debuted the Tri-Gen Project, claiming the project will be the world’s first plant that generates hydrogen, water and electricty by capturing methane from cattle manure.

Hydrogen will then be used to power Toyota’s fuel cell vehicles, like the Mirai and Project Portal, a line of trucks with a range of 200 miles per gallon. Expected to hit the market by 2020, it will also generate 2.35 megawatts of electricity and 1.2 tons of hydrogen every day. About 2,350 homes will be powered by the plant, making it the first Toyota facility that will be 100 percent renewable. Additionally, they aim to reduce carbon emissions, from their fleet of vehicles by 90 percent, by 2050.

“In most states, you have a conventional natural gas pipeline network that provides heat for your stove or furnace. The majority of natural gas comes from drilling for well gases,” Matt McClory, senior engineer at Toyota said. “We’re trying to green up this process. One way is to find renewable sources, like from gases emitted from landfills, wastewater treatment plants and farm animals.”

Methane emissions from cattle are one the world’s leading causes of climate change, but with technology like this, we’re one step closer to learning how to completely offset carbon costs.

For more, head over to Green Matters.