We’ve heard all kinds of biofuel suggestions, but this one is the most bizarre.
Stepping into unexplored territory in efforts to use corn stalks, grass and other non-food plants to make biofuels, scientists have discovered a potential treasure-trove of potential biofuel enzymes in the fungi thriving in the feces and intestinal tracts of horses. These enzymes are the key to economical production of biofuels from non-food plant material.
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A small British company has developed a process that produces gasoline from water vapor and carbon dioxide. The only thing it needs to make this incredible transformation is air.
The company hopes that within two years it will build a larger, commercial-scale plant that can produce a ton of biofuel a day. It also plans to produce green jet fuel to make airline travel more carbon-neutral.
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A sewer is where your toilet flushings, shower and dishwashing water go, and it’s a pretty warm place. That heat can generate energy, meaning that a sewer system can take care of heating and cooling a whole city. The small city of Brainerd, Minnesota is trying it out. This could be the ultimate recylcing.
On NPR.com, Conrad Wilson quotes Scott Sjolund, the town’s public utilities supervisor, as saying, "Everybody heats water up, and all that gets drained down the sewer, and that’s potential energy that could be extracted. That’s part of the equation." The bigger problem is "actually extracting it in an economical fashion."
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Thanks to this website, you now know about poop burgers, and you also know about the sometimes heroic efforts to get communities safe drinking water. Now scientists have solved two problems with one machine–it not only cleans sewage out of water, it uses the sewage to make fuel! A city could run its buses on what it gets from its sewage treatment plant. It’s an amazing transformation.
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