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http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/39465/story.htmGERMANY: December 14, 2006
BERLIN - Animals at a Munich zoo will create their own power supply from Friday when their manure is recycled to generate heat and electricity.
A biogas plant at the Muenchner Tierpark Hellabrunn will be fuelled by dung from elephants, rhinoceroses, buffalos and antelopes, and any left-over animal food. "Everything that animals with solid and cloven hooves eat which turns into manure goes into the plant," zoo director Henning Wiesner said on Wednesday.
"We'll also save ourselves a lot of truck journeys we'd otherwise have had to make to get rid of the manure, so it's doubly environmentally friendly."
The plant, launched in co-operation with Munich city council, operates by fermenting the manure. This produces methane which is burned to provide energy.
Wiesner said it was too early to say exactly how much of the zoo's heating needs would be met by the plant but it should be a significant proportion. Animals at the zoo produce roughly 2,000 tonnes of dung a year.
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