By now you’ve probably heard about cow farts and the massive amounts of methane they squeeze into the atmosphere, but did you know cow urine also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions? As it turns out, urine can produce large amounts of nitrous oxide after spilling onto the ground, soaking into soils and mixing with manure. Ammonia in urine can also contribute directly to pollution and drive the creation of harmful algal blooms when it enters water systems. While reducing the amount of beef we eat and the number of cows roaming the Earth is much needed to lower the environmental impact cows have on the planet, a Dutch inventor has come up with a “cow toilet” to deal directly with the problem of cow urine. The toilet consists of a simple box placed behind the cow while it is at its feeding trough. After the animal finishes eating, a robotic arm stimulates a nerve near the udders that trigger a need to urinate in the cows. The toilet has already proven successful in small-scale tests, cutting the amount of ammonia produced by cows urinating onto pastures in half. Following the success of his early trials, the Dutchman now intends to continue developing his cow toilets and have them ready for the market by 2020.
A Dutch inventor has created a ‘cow toilet’ to reduce emissions from urine
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