Long Trail to Power Brewery Using Cow Manure

Fact #1: Vermont has plenty of cows.

Fact #2: It takes plenty of energy to make beer.

Long Trail Brewing Co. in Bridgewater, Vt., has decided to combine these two facts. The brewery announced plans to buy 25 percent of its electricity from Central Vermont Public Service Corp.'s Cow Power program, which uses methane from manure from dairy farms to make electricity.

With the move Long Trail becomes the largest commercial Cow Power customer. Only Green Mountain College buys more energy generated by collecting and burning the methane from cow manure.

Long Trail uses 70,000 kilowatt/hours of electricity each month. The switch to Cow Power is the equivalent of taking 106 cars off the roads. The switch will cost Long Trail about $10,000 a year in additional energy costs.