The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgames

EARTHDATE: April 1, 2007

Official News - page 10


REAL LIFE NEWS: AN UNUSUAL BUILDING MATERIAL

by Hazed

Researchers from the Michigan State University have come up with a very strange building material: cow manure! They think their idea would be a new way to dispose of the millions of tons of poop produced by cows in the US each year.

Specifically, they propose using sterilized cow manture to replace sawdust in making fibreboard, a very useful construction material that is using for flooring, shelving, furniture and housing.

US Farmers can pay up to $200 per year to process the "output" of a single cow, so those with a large herd can end up with a very big bill. There's too much being produced to spread on the farmer's own fields, and spreading it further afield leads to complaints from the locals who object to the smell. So instead, the dung is processed in anerobic digesters.

Scientists propose using the solids from these digesters in place of traditional sawdust. It would be mixed with resin, heated and compressed in the same way. The finished product has been tested and so far it looks like the quality is equal to similar board made with wood - or even superior.

While this may be a sound idea technically, I'm not so sure what home-owners are going to think about having floors made out of dung - there may be a "yuck" factor to be overcome!


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