Gates was among other billionaires funding an Australian company that’s developing seaweed supplements that are added to a cow’s diet to reduce the emissions it burps out. This is not the first Gates-funded venture to address the emissions of cattle. “To hinder their ability to respirate naturally? It’s not the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard, but by golly it’s in the top 10,” Moline said. While the company’s website says the devices monitor an animal’s well-being, and the company is doing tests to ensure the animal’s aren’t harmed by the devices, Moline isn’t so certain. “It’s one of the most pickle-headed ideas I’ve ever heard of,” Moline said. ‘Pickle-Headed’ Ideaīrett Moline, director of public and governmental affairs for the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation, wonders if the device needs to be removed for feeding.Īccording to the company’s website, the device is attached to the cow following weaning, and then it’s worn at all times throughout the animal’s life.Įven if it doesn’t impede feeding, Moline told Cowboy State Daily gas masks for cows would be entirely impractical. More than keeping the world safe from the cow, the device uses the methane oxidation as an energy source, which reduces the need for batteries.

Methane is estimated to cause 85 times more warming than carbon dioxide, thereby the Zelp device will reduce the threat cows pose to life on this planet. Most of a bovine’s methane is belched.Īccording to Zelp’s website, a device attached to the cow’s head routes the methane exhaled by the animal through a catalytic mechanism, which oxidizes the methane resulting in a combination of carbon dioxide and water vapor. Cutting EdgeĬontrary to popular belief, it’s not the gas coming out the back end of a cow that’s a problem for the planet. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded a $4.8 million grant this month to London-based Zelp, a company developing a face mask for cattle designed to capture the methane produced by animal burps and turn it into carbon dioxide. Bill Gates, who takes frequent flights on private jets, is funding another venture to address the problem of methane emissions from cow burps.

Cow skull gas mask