{"id":1566,"date":"2010-08-10T17:28:51","date_gmt":"2010-08-11T00:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=1566"},"modified":"2010-08-10T17:28:54","modified_gmt":"2010-08-11T00:28:54","slug":"power-from-the-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/power-from-the-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Power From the People"},"content":{"rendered":"

GENeco<\/a>, a United Kingdom waste treatment company, announced its new green alternative to fossil fuels \u2013 the methane from waste treatment plants.\u00a0 Proposed over 40 years ago in the U. S., the energy source was ignored as an automotive (and potential aircraft fuel) for four decades because it was too \u201cdirty\u201d a fuel (insert obligatory joke here),\u00a0although GENeco\u00a0has been able to\u00a0remove CO2<\/sub>\u00a0 that would otherwise be problematical\u00a0in an economical enough way to allow its use in vehicles.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s web site explains their expertise in such matters.\u00a0 \u201cPart of the Wessex Water group of companies, GENeco has the resources, experience, skills and financial strength to offer secure, long-term commitment to businesses, organisations and the agricultural sector looking to become more environmentally friendly.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerating around 35GWh of electricity a year, with the exception of landfill gas, we are producing more electricity than all the other forms of renewable energy combined in the region we operate, which includes Dorset and the former county of Avon.<\/p>\n

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GENeco's process for methane fuel conversion<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cResearch suggests that nationally, the anaerobic digestion of food waste, livestock slurries, sewage sludge and energy crops to produce biogas could contribute approximately 10 to 20TWh of the UK\u2019s heat and power by 2020, which represents up to 7.5% of the renewable energy estimated to be required by 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n

Questioned on Dylan Ratigan\u2019s MSNBC news program this afternoon, company General Manager Mohammed Saddiq noted that a VW Beetle is driving about the streets of Bristol, and is known to the company as the \u201cBio-Bug,\u201d but to locals as the \u201cDung Beetle.\u201d\u00a0 (Insert rim shot here.).\u00a0 He explained that 70 toilets in Bristol provide enough raw materials to drive the Beetle 10,000 miles per year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Bio-Bug with GENeco recycling manager Sean Hill<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0Besides generating fuel for the Bio-Bug from the methane released during sewage treatment, the waste treatment plants provide their own plant electricity through burning the biogas and then supply surplus electricity to the national grid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the surplus gas we had available we wanted to put it to good use in a sustainable and efficient way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided to power a vehicle on the gas offering a sustainable alternative to using fossil fuels which we so heavily rely on in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were to drive the car you wouldn\u2019t know it was powered by biogas as it performs just like any conventional car. It is probably the most sustainable car around.\u201d\u00a0 The lightly converted Beetle loses no performance to the new fuel, being able to hit 114 mph.<\/p>\n

GENeco claims that, \u201cIf all the biogas produced at Avonmouth was converted to run cars it would avoid around 19,000 tonnes of CO2<\/sub>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides producing methane gas, the firm\u2019s waste treatment plants supply biosolid fertilizer to the region\u2019s farmers, and are set on processing food wastes to increase production of fuel-grade methane.<\/p>\n

The diversion of otherwise toxic wastes to more benign purposes and the beneficial effects to the environment certainly make this a process worthy of study.<\/p>\n