The latest entry in the world of diverse wastes yielding valuable “biogas” is yours truly, human excreta! We have heard about astronauts up there in space breathing oxygen churned out from their own urine earlier. Now down here on earth, our households will get powered by our own collective poo. Of course, this isn’t something that will happen in the whole world simultaneously for such an exclusive power generating mechanism will be test run under a $1.1 million pilot project. The latter undertaken by Terasen Gas of British Columbia (Canada) which is determined to purify “biogas” from human waste. The procedure will take place at the Lions Gate sewage treatment plant. This project happens to be the first of its kind in British Columbia although efforts to do the same are going on in the United States. Tearsen hopes to extract biomethane (biofuel) at the end of the process and distribute it via its existing natural gas distribution system. Methane gas is produced by sewage treatment via processes like decomposition / digestion of sewage and solid-liquid waste separation.

This gas can then be used to generate electricity for residences. Doug Stout, Terasen’s VP of marketing and business development says, “This pilot project will provide enough energy for 100 homes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 500 tonnes each year”. Once the results of pilot project (expected to begin by July 2009) are found to be satisfactory, the company will pep-up its efforts to harvest methane from agricultural wastes as well. And perhaps farm waste together with that from humans will provide enough raw-material for large-scale production of biomethane. Definitely the news is a promising one. Also, it is interesting to note that after making equipments, gadgets & technology around them as sustainable, human beings themselves will be sustainable resources for electricity generation!

Via: green.yahoo.com