A company is using the cow manure at a Rupert dairy farm to generate natural gas used to heat homes.

Intrepid Technology and Resources, based in Idaho Falls, hopes to have its system in operation as soon as next month so it can sell the gas to Intermountain Gas Co. in Boise.

The company expects to generate enough gas to heat 900 homes a year.

Intrepid uses an anaerobic digester at the dairy farm to convert cow manure into methane gas. It refines the gas enough so it can be used as a natural gas.

An Intermountain Gas spokesman said the natural gas utility still must test the quality of Intrepid’s gas before putting it in the pipeline.

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