Last night my wife and I watched a show on "dung" which began with fossilized dung from which DNA was being extracted to show human lineage and went through the years to modern man to where some countries use cow pies to provide fuel for stoves and even a gentleman who uses dung to build batteries which can last for over a month to power radios and television sets. A comment was made during the croadcast that on paper it is possible for waste products from humans to provide enough energy to supply between 10-20 percent of our total energy consumption. As personally distasteful as it may be to many of us, would it not make sense to investigate the benefits and risks associated with this type of power generation development in conjunction with other potential fuel sources? It would seem to me that if we could utilize that which is clearly waste when it comes out by turning it into a fuel source we could truly embrace the concept of renewable energy and reduce a major potential health problem at the same time.
I also saw this ... very interesting. It does seem like a great idea; however, I'm glad that my TV is not equipped with smell-o-vision. There was a LOT of brown going on - everywhere. ... Brad
Methane-generating digesters work for human waste as well as for animal waste. The 20% figure is, I think, ludicrously incorrect for the US, but might well be true for less-developed nations. Here's a product that is being marketed successfully in India, where this is both an energy issue and a sanitation issue: Turning human waste into energy - Feb. 27, 2008 Really, it's no different from a septic tank, other than the fact that you optimize for generation of methane.
Don't know about those figures for human waste, but we sure waste a lot of animal.....presents. Those gifts could be recycled to all sorts of uses. Methane for one. I saw a bit on a farm that recycles everything the cow no longer needs. Milk and cheese production. Also captured methane and the farmer even created his own machine to manufacture poop pots for plants.
I'm currently perfecting a method of turning an abundant US resource, previously considered a waste product, into biodiesel fuel. I predict I will be able to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil within five years. The abundant resource? Fat sucked from the hips, thighs, and waistlines of obese Americans during liposuction procedures.
