James Hart has found a new source of renewable energy on his farm.

With revenue from pig products getting smaller every year, some farmers from rural England have decided to make some extra money by turning poo into profit.

James Hart, who runs a pig farm, came up with a simple solution of using the huge amount of pig faeces, cow dung and chicken droppings on his farm to generate electricity.

It may look unremarkable from the outside, but inside Glebe Farm there is a state-of-the-art biogas station. It's one of only a few in the UK, which has been slower than many of its European neighbours in developing renewable energies such as wind turbines and solar panels.

So how does it work? Large quantities of animal waste are mixed with lots of grass in a tower. Bacteria then break it all down, producing methane, which is siphoned off, cleaned and filtered.

The gas is then used to power an engine which in turn powers a generator. The electricity from this is then fed into the National Grid. Mr Hart thinks he'll be able to sell 2.2 million kilowatt hours of electricity every year.

The heat generated by the process is also captured and used for central heating at the farmhouse.

But it's not only Glebe Farm which benefits. Methane is one of the most powerful greenhouse gases - 20 times worse than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere. By capturing so much of it, Mr Hart expects to reduce his carbon footprint by about 10,000 tonnes a year.

James Hart says he's pleased because he's managed to find another source of income and improve his environmental impact.

Glossary 词汇表：

poo 粪便

faeces（猪）粪 （同feces）

dung （牛）粪

dropping （鸡）粪

biogas 生物气体

renewable energy 再生能源

wind turbine 风力涡轮发电机

solar panel 太阳能电池板

animal waste 动物粪便

methane 沼气，甲烷

siphon off 吸走

generator 发动机

National Grid 全国高压输电线网

kilowatt hours 千瓦时

greenhouse gases 温室气体

environmental impact 对环境的冲击

出处：见配图水印