Norway Powers Up with Poop!
Don’t start pooping into your gas tank, but apparently one person’s year of bowel movements can produce 2.1 gallons of biodiesel.
So, to capitalize on the power of poop, the Norwegian capital of Oslo will convert sewage from a local treatment plant, processing the waste of 250,000 people, into fuel for its 80 city buses, which travel 62,000 miles each.
Compared to normal gas, costing more that 1.0 euro per liter, poop fuel goes for only 7.2 euros. City officials are excited about it:
“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. It’s extremely good for the climate and also for the quality of urban life,” beams Olaf Brastad of the Bellona environmental organisation.
“I see absolutely no downsides. On the contrary, it is an optimal way of using a renewable energy that has always been there, just waiting to be exploited,” he adds.
The initiative, if extended to Oslo’s second waste treatment plant and complemented with biofuels made from food waste, could provide enough fuel for all of Oslo’s 350 to 400 buses.
“If our entire fleet switched to biomethane, carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by around 30,000 tonnes per year,” Anne-Merete Andersen of Ruter, the operator of Oslo’s public transport system.
And despite what you might think. The crappy fuel doesn’t stink. Other countries have gone poop gas too. Kalmar, Sweden is making fuel out of animal poop and so is the Toronto Zoo.
Biofuel is a great move for all three countries, because in right now, the cost of regular gas in Canada is $4.58 per gallon and $7.52 in Sweden and Norway.
