The Christian Science Monitor notes today that Human Waste Could Be Used As Biofuel
An optimist might suppose that we’ve finally found a renewable fuel source in politicians as they seem so full of the necessary precursor!
From Ghana:
Now a Columbia University professor of environmental engineering has teamed up with a social enterprise in Accra, Ghana, to turn “fecal sludge” into biodiesel or methane fuel. The project, called the “Next-Generation Urban Sanitation Facility,” is in cooperation with Waste Enterprisers and is being underwritten by a recently announced $1.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The purpose of the project is “sustainable sanitation” …
To make it of practical use in the United States – or anywhere – vehicles would need to be “flex fuel”.
The Open Fuel Standard Act of 2011 was proposed to create markets for these alternative fuels so that any US vehicle could run any number of related fuels so that consumers have lower priced fuel options for their vehicles.
It’s only if such a law were passed here that alternatives to gasoline would stand a real chance to thrive without government subsidies.
On a related business note about the benefits of cutting eliminating waste, check out this excellent article on how eliminating waste, recycling has really worked well in Indiana: Subaru’s “no waste” philosophy pays off.
Payday Loan Rockwood on June 15th, 2011 at 1:52 pm
A Canadian company is creating an alternative green fuel from a new source of energy that was under our noses all along – human sewage.
Scientists at biofuel group Dynamotive say the oil produced from human waste can be used instead of fossil fuels to generate heat and power in diesel engines and boilers. They have successfully carried out the transformation on a pilot scale and are looking at ways to scale up the process to commercial quantities.