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posted by martyb on Tuesday November 25 2014, @10:55AM   Printer-friendly
from the don't-call-it-waste-yet dept.

El Reg reports

[The week of November 23,] punters [traveling] between Bristol and Bath will be able to ride on a bus ultimately powered by human poo, the first ever such service in the UK.

The 40-seater "Bio-Bus" will run up to two times a day and is expected to carry around 10,000 passengers a month by tour operator Bath Bus Company. It can travel up to 300km on a full tank of pressurised methane, which is produced from the equivalent annual waste of five people.

The Bio-Bus will be powered by people living in the area "including quite possibly those on the bus itself," said Mohammed Saddiq, GENeco general manager - the company which generates the biomethane gas that will fuel the service. This is done at the Bristol sewage works.

[...]17 million cubic metres of biomethane is generated a year at the Bristol plant. GENeco said this could power 8,300 homes, though in fact most of it is used to power the treatment plant itself. However there is a surplus of biogas left over for projects such as the Poo Bus.

Related Stories

Process Converts Human Waste into Rocket Fuel 12 comments

As a follow-up to the "poop-powered bus", the Univerity of Florida claims:

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Buck Rogers surely couldn’t have seen this one coming, but at NASA’s request, University of Florida researchers have figured out how to turn human waste -- yes, that kind -- into rocket fuel.

Adolescent jokes aside, the process finally makes useful something that until now has been collected to burn up on re-entry. What’s more, like so many other things developed for the space program, the process could well turn up on Earth, said Pratap Pullammanappallil, a UF associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering.

[...]“We were trying to find out how much methane can be produced from uneaten food, food packaging and human waste,” said Pullammanappallil, a UF Institute Food and Agricultural Sciences faculty member and Dhoble’s adviser. “The idea was to see whether we could make enough fuel to launch rockets and not carry all the fuel and its weight from Earth for the return journey. Methane can be used to fuel the rockets. Enough methane can be produced to come back from the moon.”

Abstract can be found here, along with the paywalled full research paper.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 25 2014, @11:04AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 25 2014, @11:04AM (#119742)

    "hello this is poop bus lines how may i help you?"

    "hi my name is bobby tables. i want to register a complaint about your shitty services"

  • (Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday November 25 2014, @11:10AM

    by isostatic (365) on Tuesday November 25 2014, @11:10AM (#119744) Journal

    I bet refuelling it is a shit job

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday November 25 2014, @12:59PM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 25 2014, @12:59PM (#119768) Journal

      I bet refuelling it is a shit job

      You mean the bus will be licensed on the number of toilet seats it provides?
      Or does one come with her/his own shit from home as a price for the ticket?

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Roger Murdock on Tuesday November 25 2014, @11:05PM

      by Roger Murdock (4897) on Tuesday November 25 2014, @11:05PM (#119963)

      "..up to two times a day"

      Once around 10am, then again around 6pm I assume.

  • (Score: 2) by cafebabe on Tuesday November 25 2014, @11:25AM

    by cafebabe (894) on Tuesday November 25 2014, @11:25AM (#119746) Journal

    It'll be a shit service when it runs and it'll be a shit service when it doesn't run.

    --
    1702845791×2
  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 25 2014, @12:42PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 25 2014, @12:42PM (#119761)

    Is soylent news populated by little children?

    I didnt think so. We don't need to use the word "poop". Using waste or feces would have been more appropriate and professional. Childish nonsense like that is for the tabloid trash.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 25 2014, @01:16PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 25 2014, @01:16PM (#119770)

      It's a gewg_ submission. We should be thankful that it isn't raving madly about some "right-wing conspiracy".

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 25 2014, @02:22PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 25 2014, @02:22PM (#119792)

      Stop spoiling our fun Mr. Poopypants.

      • (Score: 1) by anubi on Saturday November 29 2014, @04:50AM

        by anubi (2828) on Saturday November 29 2014, @04:50AM (#121030) Journal

        Skip to my loo my darlin'...
         

        --
        "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
    • (Score: 2) by theluggage on Tuesday November 25 2014, @02:43PM

      by theluggage (1797) on Tuesday November 25 2014, @02:43PM (#119801)

      Awww... are we being Mister Grumpy Face today?

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday November 25 2014, @03:15PM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 25 2014, @03:15PM (#119818) Journal

      We don't need to use the word "poop"

      You really mean to say "we are forbidden to use the word poop"? Because, if not, what's your objection?

      Using waste or feces would have been more appropriate and professional.

      You know, I defecate every day (almost), but believe me I don't pretend I'm a shit professional. So, what's wrong with poop again?

      Childish nonsense like that is for the tabloid trash.

      Ah, I see... being childish while posting on SN is a mortal sin. Lapidate the infidel.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday November 25 2014, @08:43PM

      by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 25 2014, @08:43PM (#119916) Journal

      No, but it is actually called the poo-bus on UK tv [bbc.com] and in some UK media. The name has been 'americanized' by US media to 'poop-bus'. It is not a name that _Gewg made up on the spur of the moment.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 25 2014, @11:32PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 25 2014, @11:32PM (#119988)

      Don't be such a Party Pooper!

  • (Score: 2) by bradley13 on Tuesday November 25 2014, @12:50PM

    by bradley13 (3053) on Tuesday November 25 2014, @12:50PM (#119767) Homepage Journal

    Note this lovely quote: "17 million cubic meters of biomethane...most of it is used to power the treatment plant itself"

    If true, then this plant is useless. Unfortunately, there seem to be no reliable numbers online anywhere. Certainly, the GENeco website is nothing but marketing blather.

    Look at the sheer size of their parent company, Wessex Water: they own 405 sewage treament works. GENeco is likely just a green fig leaf they want to be able to hold up. It doesn't have to make sense.

    --
    Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
    • (Score: 1) by monster on Tuesday November 25 2014, @05:32PM

      by monster (1260) on Tuesday November 25 2014, @05:32PM (#119868) Journal

      Note this lovely quote: "17 million cubic meters of biomethane...most of it is used to power the treatment plant itself"

      If true, then this plant is useless.

      Why? The plant powers itself from the methane gotten while treating the waste they process instead of using electricity. It even produces a bit more, thus being able to power the bus. No consumption of electricity, waste is processed (its main point) and locals even get a ride.

  • (Score: 4, Funny) by acid andy on Tuesday November 25 2014, @01:25PM

    by acid andy (1683) on Tuesday November 25 2014, @01:25PM (#119776) Homepage Journal

    The Bio-Bus will be powered by people living in the area "including quite possibly those on the bus itself,"

    so every time you go to the lavatory there it is vitally important to get a receipt.

    --
    If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday November 25 2014, @02:40PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 25 2014, @02:40PM (#119797)

    "The 40-seater "Bio-Bus" will run up to two times a day and is expected to carry around 10,000 passengers a month"

    Shit math here. Sorry bad pun

    So, first of all "up to two times a day" sounds totally American mass transit, like our shitty long haul trains that only run once per day (oh the puns).

    Up to twice a day means twice on weekends and once a day during the week, or twice on a holiday and once every other day. None the less I'll round that up from "up to twice" to "twice". I suspect you UK people have METRIC MONTHS because on this side of the pond our longest month is 31 days so two round trips per day means 4 tickets sold per day (one ticket per destination city, each way, twice a day) and 40 seats means 160 tickets per day times 31 ... 4960 possible tickets per month. Assuming every ticket is sold. Unfortunately they're claiming 10K passengers per month, so unless they imply they have a complete sellout for every run and half the passengers stand... Then again I've been to your little airstrip of a country and to Ireland, and Ireland at its widest is only about 90 minutes drive time across from west coast to east coast. Its not like crossing the USA, so standing for a whole trip is totally reasonable in the UK.

    • (Score: 2) by sudo rm -rf on Tuesday November 25 2014, @02:56PM

      by sudo rm -rf (2357) on Tuesday November 25 2014, @02:56PM (#119808) Journal

      The distance from Bristol to Bath is 17 km. I suppose most passengers don't take the whole trip, but maybe get off the bus after a few km. Then new ones may board and so on. What I want to say, there can easily be more than 160 passengers/day/bus. But still, 10,000/m does sound optimistic.

      • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday November 25 2014, @04:55PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 25 2014, @04:55PM (#119850)

        Hmm interesting I was thinking more intercity.

        On this side of the pond they separate public municipal intra city buses, which run every 15 minutes to at most, hourly, from private intercity which might be only a couple times a day but they are point-to-point (transit center to transit center 300 miles away at 65 MPH the whole way, or transit center to maybe a stadium 100 miles away).

        I suppose a business model is possible for something like intercity that stops at every little hamlet along the way, but that must be really slow.

        Like a token ring rather than a hub and spoke.

        Its a tough market to compete in... I can take a 2.5 hour "express" bus to chicago that only stops at a couple places enroute, or drive there in about 2 hours, or take a 1.5 hour train, hmm, wonder which I'll take. Especially when the commuter train is the cheapest option unless I go extreme carpooling. I imagine a local bus that stopped at every little intersection would take 3 or 4 hours for the same "hundred mile" trip.

    • (Score: 2) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday November 25 2014, @03:05PM

      by nitehawk214 (1304) on Tuesday November 25 2014, @03:05PM (#119815)

      "up to two", is marketingspeak for "We will only bring his bus out for photo-ops, and it will stay in the garage most of the time."

      --
      "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
    • (Score: 1) by bookreader on Wednesday November 26 2014, @09:30AM

      by bookreader (3906) on Wednesday November 26 2014, @09:30AM (#120196)

      This is perhaps a case of (a bit of) marketing speak. The 10,000 estimation is probably coming from observations about current passenger traffic on this route, on buses using standard fuel. We don't know if this is the minimum, average, or maximum traffic. We also don't know if these metrics are taken when the line is serviced by a bus with 40 or 100 seats.

      So as usual, the PR at the Bath Bus Company, or at GENeco, or the journalist gave us some pretty-looking numbers. As most of PR-related news on mass media, it should be taken with a grain of salt. Checking the math in such news article is like planning an IT product with only a few vague requirements provided by customers - it should better be avoided.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 26 2014, @10:30AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 26 2014, @10:30AM (#120210)

      Hold on a second now. Leave Ireland out of this. If the UK wants a crappy bus service that's their prerogative. Here in Ireland we have been offering this since the 1940's. It's like the difference between then and than, often confused but shouldn't be.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 25 2014, @11:47PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 25 2014, @11:47PM (#119995)

    /chomp on cigar and peering around

    • (Score: 1) by pinchy on Wednesday November 26 2014, @12:19AM

      by pinchy (777) on Wednesday November 26 2014, @12:19AM (#120011) Journal

      Your doing the lords work!