I’m no scientist, but I firmly believe that harvesting human excrement is the solution to producing sustained renewable energy.
Feces is plainly renewable, and the technologyalreadyexists to utilize it as an energy source.
We don’t even need to stop at human waste. Every animal produces dung, and that can also be a source of energy.
Gross? Absolutely! But fertilizer is often a combustible ingredient in bombs, and the methane gas in poo has efficacy as an energy source.
If I had millions to invest in research, I’d be working to make the conversion of ca-ca to power a universal reality. Imagine if your toilet helped power your home! We’d finally be free of fossil fuels (and all of the political machinations it demands), and we wouldn’t have to worry about a finite supply.
I’m sure there are downsides (there’s always a downside), but the potential amazes me. There is clearly a way to get us off of oil, shitty though it may be.
The direct electricity methods look new. But hooking up anaerobic digesters to turbines is old technology. LA’s Hyperion Wastewater Treatment Plant has done it at least since the seventies, probably longer. They’re adjacent to the Scattergood Power Plant and produce enough electricity to jump-start the plant, if it ever goes offline.
I’m guessing that there’s more scope to develop energy extraction from animal waste, just because the systems already in place for human sewage are already mostly in place and it would be expensive to try to replace it. Not to mention that the current systems are proven ways to dispose of sewage and most folks don’t want to mess with the possibility of not getting it disposed of properly. The fines are hefty.
As I said initially, I’m no scientist, and the data I come across online is basically lost on me. But there seem to be lots of cites citing the potential for this type of energy conversion. I’ll try to find one that answers your question. Meanwhile, what would be a good MMscf? (I’m expecting that, at present, the efficiency of the current technology is not all that great).
I’m wondering what volume of gas can be produced this way. You can absolutely do it. It works; does it matter? It’s not really a science question. I’m sure someone has asked and answered this already, it’s just a matter of our combined search engine powers.