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The AgSTAR Program

An Effective Practice

Description

The AgSTAR Program is a voluntary effort jointly sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Energy. The program encourages the use of methane recovery (biogas) technologies at the confined animal feeding operations that manage manure as liquids or slurries. These technologies reduce methane emissions while achieving other environmental benefits.

Goal / Mission

The goal of AgStar is to reduce methane emissions at confined animal feedlot operations by promoting the use of biogas recovery systems.

Results / Accomplishments

The AgSTAR Program has been very successful in encouraging the development and adoption of anaerobic digestion technology. By the end of 2012, the number of operational digester systems had reached 201 systems across the United States. This has produced significant environmental and energy benefits, including generating approximately 625,000 MWh equivalents of energy and emission reductions of approximately 1.76 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent in 2012.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
US Environmental Protection Agency
Primary Contact
Alison Costa
1200 Pennsylvania Ave, MC: 6207J, Washington, DC 20460
(202) 343-9468
costa.allison@epa.gov
Topics
Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants
Environmental Health / Air
Environmental Health / Weather & Climate
Organization(s)
US Environmental Protection Agency
Location
USA
For more details
http://www.epa.gov/agstar

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Related Content for: The AgSTAR Program

An Effective Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success and/or promise in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures of improvement in outcome of interest (i.e. increase in voter registration, not just delivery of voter registration drive) and/ or the outcome measure is increased or improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant.