Pig Manure Sweet Money For Thai Farmer

A Thai farmer has used a simple system to capture the methane gas from pig manure and convert it into electricity(AFP)

For Thai pig farmer Ong-Arj Suwunnatee, going green was not only good for business and the environment, it came as a welcome relief to his neighbours.

"Back in the old days, people knocked on my door and complained about the smell," Mr Ong-Arj said, who owns 4,000 pigs in Nakhon Pathom, 55 kilometres west of Bangkok in the heart of Thailand's hog country.

"Now? They hardly even notice. People around here are happy to show you how to get to my house," Mr Ong-Arj said after showing off a biogas plant he designed himself during a tour of his 9.7-hectare enclosed pig farm.

Using a simple system to capture the methane gas from pig manure and convert it into electricity, Mr Ong-Arj slashed his power bill by thousands of dollars and cut gas emissions that harmed the environment and annoyed his neighbours.

"The smell has gone. The flies have gone and I have more cash in my pocket," the 35-year-old father of two said.

....

"In pig farming, the only thing you can't use is the squeal," Mr Ong-Arj said.

Nice work indeed !

Full story at abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/11/2057321.htm?section=world