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Biogas from human waste, safely obtained under controlled circumstances using innovative technologies, is a potential fuel source great enough in theory to generate electricity for up to 138 million households - the number of households in Indonesia, Brazil, and Ethiopia combined.
A report today from UN University's Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health estimates that biogas potentially available from human waste worldwide would have a value of up to US$ 9.5 billion in natural gas equivalent. And the residue, dried and charred, could produce 2 million tonnes of charcoal-equivalent fuel, curbing the destruction of trees.
Finally, experts say, the large energy value would prove small relative to that of the global health and environmental benefits that would accrue from the safe treatment of human waste in low-resource settings.
http://phys.org/news/2015-11-vast-energy-human-university.html
[Video]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=807RtubRyF0
(Score: 5, Informative) by hemocyanin on Wednesday November 04 2015, @03:38AM
This sounds sort of like some energy fantasy. If I understand this correctly, if we collected the crap of every person on the planet, we could provide enough energy for 1.9% of the world's population. Of course to get all of that crap, you'd have to drive bazillions of miles through remote locations and use way more energy than you'd ever get back.
If this was limited to just those people who live in cities where the poo can be conveniently collected, then you'd get enough gas for just under 1% of the world's population ( http://www.geohive.com/earth/pop_urban.aspx [geohive.com] ). This would be after investing a lot of energy into infrastructure (cement for example is an energy intensive process, as is mining the materials). Surely there are options that have a better return on energy investment than this idea.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday November 04 2015, @03:57AM
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday November 04 2015, @01:27PM
It's already being done in many places. NYC does it, though, the exact percentage of solids used for fertilizer isn't listed: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/wastewater/biohome.shtml [nyc.gov]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by hankwang on Wednesday November 04 2015, @06:13AM
If you claim (or suggest so) that this won't pay off, you should support it by numbers. How much infrastructure do you actually need per unit of energy production?
Also, you may not need to add new infrastructure that would otherwise not be built. If a sewage treatment plant needs to be upgraded anyway, you could replace it by a biogas plant.
TFA actually states in the summary that sewage discharge in open water without any treatment is a major health issue in developing countries. Turning sewage into something that can be sold makes it economically feasible to build sewage treatment plants.
Avantslash: SoylentNews for mobile [avantslash.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hemocyanin on Wednesday November 04 2015, @06:21AM
Well then make it a health issue and deal with that, but don't feed us BS about what an amazing energy source this would be, because it isn't when it is so widely distributed that the extra 1.9% in usable gas you'd get by collecting it all, would be consumed by the vastly greater amount of energy obviously involved in collecting it. Seriously, who is going to drive 200 miles out into the middle of the rain forest to collect the poo of disparate bands of tribal folk living there and think that is somehow energy conserving?
(Score: 2) by hankwang on Wednesday November 04 2015, @05:14PM
Title of TFA:
WASTE TO WEALTH: Sustainable Wastewater Management in Uganda.
Avantslash: SoylentNews for mobile [avantslash.org]
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Wednesday November 04 2015, @08:18PM
Then why mention the fact that IF we collected worldwide poo production, we could generate gas for 3 countries? That statistic is stupid because we'd have to spend the gas of 10 countries to get there.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 04 2015, @01:21PM
This UN(?) outfit is making the proposal, they are the one that must come up with numbers, convincing numbers instead of some vague aggregates.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 04 2015, @09:16AM
you'd have to drive bazillions of miles
Everyone knows that you can't drive bazillions of miles! Everyone knows that!