Schodack, N.Y., Firm Seeks Cheaper Way to Turn Manure into Power.

Byline: Jeremy Boyer

Aug. 22--SCHODACK, N.Y.--Getting electricity out of manure is not new, but Stephen Hoyt is trying to make it a lot cheaper.

And the giant white dome rising behind the barn at Spring Valley Dairy off Route 9 in Schodack represents Hoyt's effort to do so.

Hoyt, president of a Castleton-based farm-waste management consulting firm called Dubara Co. Inc., has spent the past six years developing a more cost-effective anaerobic digestion system. Anaerobic digestion is a process in which bacteria is added to stored animal waste to more quickly convert it into methane gas. That gas then can be collected to use as fuel.

The …