Household Sewage: A Vast New Energy Resource

Hi ya! How's tricks? Keeping well? Slurp down a mug if coffee and gobble down a virtual treat while I tell you why sitting on the pot (not the coffee pot!) make be even more important to your future than it is now!

In a finding that gives new meaning to the adage, "waste not, want not," scientists are reporting that household sewage has far more potential as an alternative energy source than previously thought. They say the discovery, which increases the estimated potential energy in wastewater by almost 20 percent, could spur efforts to extract methane, hydrogen and other fuels from this vast and, as yet, untapped resource.

Elizabeth S. Heidrich and colleagues note that sewage treatment plants in the United States use about 1.5 percent of the nation's electrical energy to treat 12.5 trillion gallons of wastewater a year. Instead of just processing and dumping this water, they suggest that in the future treatment facilities could convert its organic molecules into fuels, transforming their work from an energy drain to an energy source. Based on their research, they estimate that one gallon of wastewater contains enough energy to power a 100-watt light bulb for five minutes.

And, in a study completed just days ago, scientists in California have come up with a novel device that uses only sunlight and wastewater to produce hydrogen gas could provide a sustainable energy source while improving the efficiency of wastewater treatment.

So next time you 'sit on the throne', remember, you're creating renewable energy. Good for you! 

See ya, eh!

Bob