The United States has an enormous amount of untapped potential for collecting biogas from organic waste streams to produce useful forms of energy. Most of the U.S. biogas development in the last 20 years has used dairy manure as a feedstock source. Development has also occurred at wastewater treatment facilities or food processing facilities with a wastewater stream.
A livestock sector that has not received much attention for anaerobic digestion implementation opportunities is swine. According to a Market Opportunities report from US EPA AgStar there are 5,596 swine farms nationwide that are candidates for AD. Currently, there are 26 operational systems in the U.S. Given the gulf between potential and operational; we could be doing much better.
This whitepaper summarizes research findings assessing the barriers and opportunities for implementing anaerobic digestion projects using swine manure as a feedstock.
This week I traveled to Houston Texas to take part in the 2012 Transatlantic Science Week – Energy Technology Workshop. I gave a presentation titled – Technical and Social Challenges when North Dakota becomes the second largest oil producing state in the USA. The Great Plains Institute is working to help build continued collaboration between the energy-rich Norway and North Dakota.
Coal power generation in the U.S. stands at a crossroads. Abundant low-cost natural gas, federal environmental requirements and uncertainty over future regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are driving the closure of older, less-efficient coal units and cancellation of planned investments in new coal generation capacity. 
In the midst of the election season, with partisan politics in full force, a group of Senators came together to introduce legislation that aims to achieve a win for energy security, the environment and the economy in the U.S. In September, Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND), Mike Enzi (R-WY), and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced bi-partisan legislation that supports expansion of carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR).
The Great Plains Institute commends Conrad-Enzi-Rockefeller bill to increase American oil production and reduce carbon emissions MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Today, Sens. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Mike Enzi (R-WY), and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced a bipartisan bill to advance the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), an important opportunity to strengthen our national security by reducing dependence on imported oil through increased American oil production; create new jobs and increase investment across the country; and reduce CO2 emissions from a range of industrial sources—all at the same time.
Transmission infrastructure development is fundamental to the successful build-out of large-scale renewable energy production and other sources of cleaner, advanced energy production in the Midwest. The level of transmission build-out needed to support deployment of cleaner energy will require multiple jurisdictions and authorities to coordinate and collaborate. A robust, reliable and cost-effective transmission system can be achieved through coordination and cooperation at the state, regional and federal levels and through engagement of key stakeholders to provide guidance on policy development and implementation. 
DELEGATION LEARNS ABOUT DENMARK TECHNOLOGIES, APPLICATIONS FOR NORTH DAKOTA
Biogas is a renewable energy resource that holds tremendous potential to help meet our future energy needs. As a versatile energy resource, it can be utilized as a feedstock for electricity and/or heat, a source of renewable natural gas, or as a vehicle fuel. Materials that can be used to produce biogas are abundant, especially in the Midwest – an area rich with livestock production, food processing byproducts, and crop residues. Agricultural production is not the only source of biogas production in the Midwest; wastewater treatment facilities, urban wood and yard wastes, and landfills also provide a feedstock source.
