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Minister's Award Winner - Klaesi Brothers - Video Clip

Announcer

Paul and Fritz Klaesi arrived in Canada in 1990 from Switzerland, where Paul worked as an Inspector for Hydro Zurich and Fritz ran a dairy farm. Here in Ontario the Klaesi Brothers milk one hundred and forty head of cows and have two hundred and eighty head of livestock which, altogether, produce some six thousand cubic meters of manure a year.

Where some might look at all that manure and see only a nutrient management challenge, the Klaesi brothers see a renewable natural resource, full of left-over energy.

Paul Klaesi, Dairy Farmer

We knew how much energy is in manure. There is about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 kilowatt-hours per cow per day in a well-fed dairy cows.

Announcer

Manure contains as much as sixty percent methane, more than half as much as natural gas, and the Klaesi's digester produces enough methane to fill this bubble two or three times a day.

Fritz Klaesi

So this bubble is like a balloon goes up and down to have the storage room for about 150 cubic metres of gas - if it's full or empty.

Paul Klaesi

Here we measure the volume of the gas with a meter. And then we go in up here to the turbo charger where the gas gets mixed with air; goes through the after-cooler of the turbo-charger; and comes in here into the diesel engine.

Announcer

Besides methane for hydro and heat, the fermentation process produces a nutrient-rich, weed-free fertilizer that is much more available to plants, and free of E. coli and other harmful bacteria.

Paul Klaesi

We are a bit pioneers, I would say.

Announcer

And so today, we are celebrating the energy innovation of Paul and Fritz Klaesi.