Professor Norman Scott will serve as Principal Investigator for the Partnership project. He will provide managerial oversight for the project and will lead the Advisory Committee, with the assistance of the technical staff. Professor Scott has been on the faculty of the Cornell Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering since 1962. After serving as the University's Vice-President for Research and Advanced Studies from 1989-98, he has focused on research in sustainable development. This research is directed to development of sustainable communities with emphasis on biologically derived fuels, renewable energy, recycling, managed ecosystems and industrial ecology.

Curt Gooch, P.E. is an Agricultural Engineer in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University. Curt heads up the dairy facilities engineering component of Cornell's PRO-DAIRY program, a joint-venture educational program by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Curt is responsible for the development of educational and training programs related to dairy housing and waste management systems. He also conducts applied research with the goal of furthering the understanding of dairy housing and waste management systems and their effects on dairy animals and farm profitability. Curt has undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Maryland at College Park.
> Curt Gooch's other projects and activities

"Energy Systems" is a unifying theme for Norm's current major areas of research, especially the transition from a fossil fuel economy to a biologically-based system.

Web site: www.cowpower.cornell.edu (The thesis titles linked below can also be found at the cowpower website.)

1. Dairy Manure Waste Treatment Systems

• Energy conversion options:
  > diesel engine-generator
  > microturbines
  > fuel cells
• " Missing from analyses to date is a thorough systems approach to the many alternatives for manure management."

2. Biogas Processing Systems

• Grant in collaboration with NYSEG at DDI (NYSERDA 7250).
• Three graduate students (M.S.) involved: Steve Zicari, Kelly Saikkonen, Kim Bothi.
• Steve Zicari M.S. thesis: Removal of hydrogen sulfide from biogas using cow-manure compost .
• Evaluating cleanup of digester gas, especially hydrogen sulfide.
• Gas chromatograph on-site at DDI and in Riley-Robb Hall.

3. Utilization of Combined Heat & Power (CHP) Systems

Completed work

• Stefan Minott M.S. thesis: Feasibility of fuel cells for energy conversion on the dairy farm
• Complete NYSERDA 6243 report: Feasibility of fuel cells for energy conversion on the dairy farm

New initiatives

• Greenhouse enterprise
  > AA Dairy has NYSERDA grant 7254.
  > Kristy Graf is conducting her M.S. on this project.
• Aquaculture enterprise (not active at moment)
• On-farm milk pasteurization
  > Gloria Fung (undergraduate) did a preliminary assessment.
• Two new proposals just submitted to NRCS by consortiums:
  (1) Cornell, John Deere, Acumentrics Corp, and Environmental Power Corp: "Commercializing an Integrated Fuel Cell and Digester System for Animal Waste Processing, Energy Generation and Nutrient Byproduct Recovery: A Systems Approach"
  (2) Cornell and New Energy Solutions, Inc: "Design and Demonstration of a Commercial Prototype for Onsite Production of High Purity Hydrogen from Farm Animal Wastes as a Method for Increasing the Economic Viability of Farms by Offering an Additional High Value Product Utilizing Currently Available Resources"

4. Distributed Generation

• Jianguo Ma M.S. thesis: Spatial analysis of the potential for dairy manure as a renewable energy resource in New York State (NYSERDA 4841-Technology Acceleration Program). A manuscript submitted to Bioenergy and Biomass Journal.
• Also looking at location of food waste generation sites.

5. Energy Systems for Sustainable Communities

• A proposal has been submitted to NYSERDA to look at possibility of using a Plug Power fuel cell (operating on natural gas) to provide CHP for 8 units at Ithaca's EcoVillage.

Norm also teaches two courses and a seminar:
(1) BEE 299. Sustainable Development: A Web-based course
(2) BEE 494.1 Sustainable Energy Systems (with L.D. Albright)
(3) BEE 673. Sustainable Development Seminar (joint with JGSM)

1. Heat stress in dairy cows

• Continuous tracking of core body temperature for lactating dairy cows on production dairies. Utilizing vaginal-located temperature-recording devices to track the core body temperature of Holstein dairy cows housed in contemporary freestall barns.

2. Effect of photoperiod on dairy cow lactation

• Monitoring milk production response for six (6) production barns (three freestall and 3 tie stall barns) that have employed photoperiod manipulation. Lighting systems were designed as part of the project that is being funded by NYSERDA, NiMO, and NYSEG.

3. Processing of manure on farms

• Collaborating with other research partners to demonstrate and investigate the on-farm manure processing systems such as anaerobic digestion, solids biodrying, and sand manure processing. Working on efforts to develop integrated manure management systems that result in sustainability of the dairy industry relative to handling manure.

4. Controls for tunnel ventilation system

• Monitoring the use of Time Integrated Variable (TIV) controller technology for application in tunnel-ventilated freestall barns. Thrust of current project is to compare two controllers, a TIV controller and a standard stage controller, to evaluate the environment's response and ventilation system energy usage.

5. Feasibility of Anaerobic Digestion of Sand-Laden Dairy Manure

• Performing a NYSERDA funded feasibility study to look at the potential of successfully having an anaerobic digester on a dairy uses sand as freestall bedding. Project is being performed in collaboration with the McLanahan Corporation.

6. Manure waste treatment system feasibility studies

• Provide technical assistance for performing feasibility studies of on-farm manure processing systems.

7. Net energy available from anaerobic digesters

• Developing a web based tool that users can use to determine the monthly amount of surplus energy available from anaerobic digesters for use on-farm or for sale to the public. Model with be flexible enough to be used for any climatic condition with several structural variations to the digester.

8. Economics of integrated manure management systems

• Developing engineering economic data that can be used by the dairy industry as decision support tools when evaluation various integrated manure management systems.

• http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu
• http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/Composting.html

Recently Completed Projects

1. Compost quality, labeling and marketing (NYSERDA 6593)

• analyzed compost samples from 30 farms

2. Developing a web-based economic model to assist in evaluating farm composting (NYSERDA 6253)

• the decision-making model "Co-Composter" helps dairy farmers evaluate how composting will fit into their operation
• model was tested on four demonstration farms

3. Video "Farm-Based Composting: Manure and More"

• funded by NESARE
• brochure describes video and related web sites and publications

Projects Underway

1. Compost market development for use in turf, landscape and vineyards

• NYSERDA 7253 and Hatch funding

2. Natural rendering: Composting livestock mortality and butcher waste

• funded by NYS Empire State Development and NESARE
• fact sheet. video and set of three posters
• currently testing 30 piles
• road kill concerns being raised by NYSDEC and NYS DOT

3. NYS compost maps

• funded by USEPA
• helps buyers locate compost sellers
• recently updated

4. Northern Forest Compost Collaborative

• funded by NYS Empire State Development
• cooperative project with Waste Not Solutions
• for small farms to share composting equipment and/or combine compost products to custom-mix for buyers

5. Compost Law (proposed)

• Existing fertilizer laws (which cover compost) are for products applied in pounds/acre, whereas compost is applied in tons/acre.
• Compost characteristics can not be listed on a label or information sheet unless it is registered as a fertilizer. Thus a new law is needed.
• Bill passed in the House and Senate but needs to be signed by the Governor.