Generating power with dog poop in San Francisco
An article the UK Guardian writes about how San Francisco is working on a plan to collect dog poop and turn it into energy to power the city.
Under the pilot plan, announced this week, Sunset Scavenger will place biodegradable bags and what are tastefully called dog-waste carts in a popular San Francisco dog park. The dog poo will then be put into a methane digester, where bacteria will eat away at it for two weeks before it turns into methane gas. The gas can then be used to power appliances such as cookers and heaters that currently run on natural gas. It can also be used to generate electricity.
“American dogs and cats produce millions of tons of waste a year, and no one knows where it’s going,” said Will Brinton, a worried-sounding Maine scientist. “That’s really beginning to be looked at as a nightmare,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle.
The poo that makes it on to a landfill site is usually encased in a plastic bag, where it remains, mummified, for years. If the poo is not picked up it remains where it falls, and dissolves into the ground on its way to joining the water supply. Some dog owners add it to garden compost, a risky approach given the pathogens present in dog poo, which are not eradicated by the low temperatures reached during composting.
April 22nd, 2006 at 4:30 pm
I have a question about old technology applied in possibly a new way.
Every city has a waste water sewer system, as well as a potable supply system. They both are constantly flowing.
The old technology would be like the old mills that used the paddle wheel to produce power and move machinery.
If you took mini paddle wheels and put a bunch of them into the flow stream of the sewer and potable water systems, and used it to power many generating devices feeding batteries, wouldnt that produce enough power to run a household.
Im looking at these wind mills, and, dont see what the difference is, except that my idea would be on a much smaller scale, but would also be a more constant source and the water pressure and flow would be a constant. I think it would out perform a wind powered system.
Thanks alot….just a thought