Like my peer group, I "came of age" in the 1960's. I remember that we all used some colorful slang back than. If you'd like to take another trip down memory lane, the link below will take you to 145 of them:
http://www.the60sofficialsite.com/Do_You_Remember_The_60s_Slang_.html
The first one on the list is "a gas", which meant you were having a lot of fun. "What a gas" was how you described an event that you had gone to, and it also makes for a fun title about an article that involves gas
Almost two years ago, I wrote an article about a company that
had figured out a way to convert the “slurry” in hog containment ponds into
asphalt. To give you an idea of how BIG these ponds are, just click on the link
in the article below titled “one flew over the pop poo nest”.
In addition to oil and asphalt, the hog slurry (when treated)
can be turned into natural gas and other fuels, and can also be used as
fertilizer. In addition, the converted substance can also be used to generate
electricity.
Today’s Washington Post had an article that detailed how the “pig
slop” can be converted into natural gas. Since I have personally had a close
encounter with a slurry pond, I can assure you that the little critters produce
a LOT of natural gas.
The world’s largest pork producer is teaming
up with a Virginia-based energy company to harness methane gas from thousands
of malodorous hog lagoons to both heat homes and combat climate change.
Full details of the operation are contained in the link shown
above, but here’s the short story:
The two companies will spend $250 million over the next 10
years for the project.
Agriculture emissions account for 9% of the nation’s
greenhouse gasses.
Methane is 25 times more potent a gas than carbon dioxide.
Since 1990, there has been a 68% increase in emissions from
livestock manure.
13 years ago, Smithfield (the hog producer) tried to convert
hog manure to diesel. The process did not work, and the company lost nearly
$30,000,000.
If you tried to find out how today’s hog production compares
to 1998, you’ll likely stumble on the article shown below:
Unless you are a hog farmer, you probably have forgotten that 1998 was a disaster for hog farmers, since the market value for hogs literally
went down to ZERO. Unfortunately,
this fall there are two parallels to 1998. The first is that losses this fall
could be among the largest since that last quarter of 1998. The second is that
the U.S. government is making direct payments to pork producers.
A large part of the current
problem is the tariffs that were “going to make American great again”. Both
Mexico and China are big markets for our pork exports, and our newly-imposed
tariffs on their products have greatly reduced our “outflow”. This year, our
pork production is up 6% over last year. However, when we have record supplies
of pork and limits on our ability to access some export markets, prices tumble
and our efficient producers suffer.
It IS encouraging that some
creative people have devised methods to change a waste product into other uses.
However, it will likely be a LONG time before somebody figures out how to make
a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
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