Save Money on Electricity Bills. Get Cow Manure?

And if all else fails, try cow manure. According to writer Jim Hook, three Franklin County, PA farmers have agreed to join a program that will determine whether it's economical for smaller dairy farms to produce electricity from cow manure.

• "If we can get a return on the top end of the cow instead of the bottom end, I'll try it," Jack Martin said. He won't get a check from Allegheny Power, but will get credit on his farms' electric bills. Mason Dixon Farms, south of Gettysburg, PA., has produced electricity from methane digestion since 1979. The family farm has about 2,300 cows. 
• Martin has a 225-cow herd that should grow to 250 before the end of 10-year manure-to-energy trial. "If you didn't have between a 700- and 800-cow dairy, you couldn't even consider it," Martin said.
• NativeEnergy of South Burlington, Vt., was awarded a $894,000 competitive grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to develop a pilot project for smaller farms.