It's an experiment that could potentially turn cow waste into energy, and it's gaining the attention of those in the ag community and Western Kentucky University.

Those behind "Organic Alchemy" say the USDA gave them testing services to start it and WKU gave them a place to put it.

It's an alternative renewable energy source in the works that's making waste useful.

"This is all my design," said David Emmerich, of Organic Alchemy.

David Emmerich's pilot project is taking shape.

"It's just a wonderfully needed process," he said.

The process takes manure from cattle on WKU's ag farm and turns it into "renure."

"This process, digesting it through the series of tanks, removes almost all the odor," Emmerich said.

Not only that, but Emmerich says his design has the capability of turning methane into electricity, which could cut costs for farmers.

"We could generate enough power to run their dairy operation," he said.

In Emmerich's layout, waste flows through tanks, digests and comes out as liquid fertilizer.

It's that liquid fertilizer that has been helping life inside Emmerich's greenhouse since he began.

"All of the plants have been grown with renure for the past year and a half and they love it," he said.

It's a smaller model of what Emmerich says is an efficient step in the right direction --- and one he hopes will soon become a full-scale production.

"I'd like to build four or five in the next two years."

Doing that, Emmerich says, takes money.

Organic Alchemy is currently looking for grant funding in order to start the first full-scale system om WKU's ag farm.