Imagine if manure and compostable organic material could heat a greenhouse and produce nutrients for the plants inside. Seniors Erick Crockenberg and Ted Cooke have made this idea into a reality.

Born and raised in Vermont and friends since childhood, Cooke and Crockenberg were students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ self-designed major program, when they had the idea for a project they call “the pile.”

The two seniors built a bioreactor that produces heat and CO2, and while the concept is based on simple principles, it is deceptively complex, Crockenberg said. 

The pile consists of layers of cow manure and hay embedded with temperature probes, Crockenberg said. It is also negatively aerated, meaning that it draws in air through the pile into the greenhouse, he said.

The goal of the pile is to provide CO2 and heat to tomatoes growing inside the greenhouse. This would mean that no fossil fuels would be needed to heat the house in the winter. 

But the energy has to come from somewhere. That is where the manure comes in.

By providing the organic material for the microbes to feast on, the cow manure is the source of heat and nutrients for the plants.

“The pile takes in manure and other organic wastes as an energy source,” Cooke said. “It kills two birds with one stone. The farmers can dispose of manure and heat the greenhouse.”

Cooke and Crockenberg said they then closely monitor data from the temperature probes and re-pile the manure as needed.

“The hard part is building it and testing the pile; finding out how much of everything it needs,” Cooke said. “Once that’s done, it could be easily built and applied to other projects.”

Cooke and Crockenberg hope to get more funding to continue their work on the pile, but as seniors they are also thinking about their futures after UVM. They want to take the pile to other local farms and further develop its design.

“We plan to stay in the area. Also we just got the Moran project funded,” Cooke said.

The Moran plan pitched by Crockenberg and Cooke in April will include anaerobic digestion, solar powered technology, aquaponic fish and vegetable production, gourmet mushrooms, a restaurant, nano-brewery and access to the future skate park and marina, a May Cynic article stated.