C32—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 2,1980 COLUMBIA, Mo. - Energy natural gas and electricity from hog manure! It’s an idea that has taken a lot of kidding. Today, it’s on the brink of being economically feasible for supplying 80 to 90 percent of a hog farm’s thermal and electrical energy needs. Scientists at the Univer sity of Missoun-Columbia built the first successful, completely automated manure digester in corporated into a hog farm in the fall of 1976. That digester converts Love STATE COLLEGE - Gene M. Love, head of the Department of Agricultural Education at the Penn State, has received the Distinguished Service Award of the American Association of Teacher Educators in Agriculture. The award is the highest recognition given in the U.S. for leadership' in teacher education in agriculture. Love received $5OO and a certificate. The occasion was the annual meeting of the association m Anaheim, Calif. Love has been head of the Department of Agricultural Education at Penn State since 1975. In this capacity he is also Director of Vocational Teacher Education at Penn State. He has been instrumental in organizing a comprehensive personnel development THERE ARE TWO WOOD STOVES IN THIS PICTURE The Upland is designed to be used either free standing or vented into an existing fireplace Either way you get two stoves in one SAVE UP TO 75 % ON HEATING BILLS WOOD «£ AT Rt 212, Pleasant Valley Quakertown. Pa. Open: Mon., lues., Thurs. & Fn. 12 to 8; Sat. 9 to 5; Sun. 1 to 5; Closed Wed. Phone 215-346-7894 DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED * *0 DAYS NO FINANCING CHG FINANCING UP TO 30 MONTHS VISA Hog manure - energy, no longer a dark subject manure mto methane or natural gas and subsequent electricity. It was designed to test the practicality of such digesters on American farms. “It works no question about that!” exclaimed James Fischer, UMC agricultural engineer. “It could produce 6000 cubic feet of methane a day, enough to provide 100 percent of the electncty and 90 percent of the thermal energy for the UMC swine farm operation. “And with the cost of electricity and propane honored for center for vocational teacher education. Before coming to Penn State in 1975, Love was coordinator of agricultural education at the University of Missouri for nine years. Prior to this he was a member of the agricultural education faculty at Penn State. He served on the faculty of Stanford University while on assignment in the Philip pines. Following his graduation from Penn State in 1949, he taught agriculture at East Donegal High School, Maytown, until 1951. From 1951 until 1954, he was a graduate fellow in agricultural education at Penn State. He taught briefly at West Chester High School before entering the Air Force in 1954. He received his master of science degree m 1953 and The one you see is an open stove, with all ttie beauty of the open fire place. The one you don't see is an air-tight stove that heats up to 9,000 cu. ft for 10 hours when you close cast iron doors. going up, the economics of these digesters is looking better every minute.” Donald Osburn, UMC agricultural economist, figured that a farmer with a facility that markets 3200 hogs per year (a 250-sow herd) could afford to spend $62,375 for a digester and an engine-generator and still break even if electricity from outside sources was going at 8 cents per kilowatt hour and propane at $l.lO a gallon. It cost $29,000 to build the Missouri digester, which is large enough to process 9.000 teacher education the doctor of philosophy degree in 1954, both from Penn State. In 1971, he received the Education Research Award of the American Institute of Cooperation. He has written numerous articles and papers and has developed many teaching manuals. He is past president of the American Association of / o