The chicken poop solution

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Fifty miles outside of Beijing, a farm with more than three million chickens is collecting its daily torrent of guano, harvesting the methane, and using it to generate 14,600 megawatt hours of electricity a year, enough for more than 10,000 homes. That might not stave off the electricity shortages in Beijing’s suburbs, but it will help.

The manure scheme is good news for everyone. In the past, the methane went into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. The fecal matter seeped into the groundwater, potentially causing illness. Using the biogas from the manure instead of dirtier coal-fired power is expected to cut the equivalent of 95,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year.

Producing clean energy can also mean cleaning up at the bank. The farm, which is called the Beijing Deqingyuan Chicken Farm and Waste Utilization Plant, expects to save more than $1.2 million a year in electricity costs alone.

And by reducing carbon emissions, the project qualifies as a United Nations-sanctioned "Clean Development Mechanism," meaning that the farm is eligible to receive carbon credits. Under the Kyoto climate change treaty, the credits can be traded internationally, enabling companies to essentially purchase the right to pollute.

This project is one of many that China has seized upon, making it a world leader in clean energy. As President Barack Obama noted in his address to Congress in late February…

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