In an effort to clean up emissions and reduce fossil fuel use by the industry, the French government is co-financing – to the tune of $32.1 million over the next eight years – the “ProBio3″ project which aims to develop new airline biofuels from waste grasses that can be safely mixed 50/50 with jet fuel.

“Tomorrow, planes will fly using agricultural and forest waste,” said Carole Molina-Jouve, a coordinator of the ProBio3 project and professor at Toulouse’s National Institute of Applied Sciences (Insa).

Hydroprocessed oils such as those produced from agricultural waste are approved for use in aviation applications and the French government wants to develop a a profitable manufacturing system for the fuel. By breaking down the waste product into sugars, mixing it with yeast, transforming it into a fat, and then treating it with hydrogen, the researchers are able to make a biofuel with properties like today’s petroleum in their lab. The key to making this a usable fuel of the future is to replicate this process in the real world on an industrial scale large enough to provide for airline’s needs.

Coming on the heels of the European Union’s mandate to lower biofuel blends derived from crop-based sources for use in transport, developing a fuel made from waste grasses and not food products could be just what the industry needs. Airbus recently began prepping for hydrogen fuel cell-powered flight tests, but seeing as how the company is also a backer of and partner in the ProBio3 project it seems obvious it believes there is also a future for biofuels produced from straw and wood chips.

[via Reuters]

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In a move sure to gain the appreciation of at least some hunger activists, EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard and Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger announced that The European Commission will be limiting crop-based biofuels to just 5 percent of transport fuel until at least the year 2020. Activists have been railing against the use of crops and other food sources for fuel as millions go hungry around the world.

“Finally the European commissioners have come to their senses,” said Clare Coffey, policy adviser at ActionAid. “They are firmly acknowledging that using precious food and agricultural land to fuel our cars is bad for people and bad for the environment. In a world where a billion go to bed hungry every night, that is immoral.”

While the limits will be put in place for crop-based fuels once passed by EU governments and lawmakers, development of other biofuels will move forward towards a goal of having at least 10 percent of the fuel mix be from renewable sources by 2020. According to a statement by Oettinger at a recent meeting of EU energy ministers, the difficulty in that will be finding sources that are as cheap to produce as crop-based ones currently used.

The United Nation’s food agency recently called for the U.S. to change its policies on crop-based biofuels because of the danger of a worldwide food crisis, but it seems the European Union is the only one taking that advice to heart. “We cannot continue to burn food in our petrol tanks while poor families go hungry,” said Natalia Alonso from Oxfam. Truer words aren’t spoken too often and we definitely need to speed up the development and production of non-food-based biofuel sources.

[via The Guardian]

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So why not kill both birds with one stone?

That’s the idea behind poop power. Yes, get your giggles out now: I said ‘poop power’. The idea is to transform our dirty, smelly excrement, into clean, occasionally-also-smelly (but sustainable) energy.

Though it may elicit laughs, the potential of poop-to-power technology is actually serious business. Not only does the technology have the ability to supplement our energy needs, but by using human waste as an input, it also does away with a major pollutant. Really, it’s the quintessential model of sustainability.

A number of companies, cities and countries are already seeing sewage as a power source rather than as a waste problem. Here are 8 major ways that power is being generated from poop:

Photo Credit: Jonutis/Shutterstock

City Sewage

Perhaps the most clearcut way to transform your poop into power is to convert it into biogas via anaerobic digestion. Basically, when sewage is fed to anaerobic bacteria, they eat it up and belch out a waste product of their own: biogas. This can then be funneled directly into the already-existing natural gas distribution system, transformed into electricity, or burned off immediately for energy.

A number of North American cities have already installed biogas digesters into their waste treatment facilities. For example, the Lions Gate Wastewater Treatment plant in Vancouver, British Columbia, has launched a biogas project designed to supplement the city’s natural gas supply.

Another city employing such an approach is Brooklyn, NY, at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. The facility recently got an overhaul so fewer smells escape into nearby neighborhoods. Which is a real win for locals, but a major loss for pets who will now bear all the blame for unclaimed flatulence.

Photo Credit: fotoJoost/Shutterstock

Manure Mania

If you think human waste is a problem, just imagine the amount of waste that comes from our farm animals. Poop from the big three– cows, pigs and poultry– represents a monumental waste problem of its own. Manure has long been used as fertilizer, but there is vast untapped energy potential here too. In fact, it has been estimated that transforming cow poop to biogas could meet 3 percent of North America’s energy needs. Projects launched in California and Ontario, Canada are already ahead of the curve, to name just a few.

Pigs are another major source of poo… er, power. China is investing heavily in transforming poop from their estimated 700 million pigs into energy. Even Google is making an investment in pig plops as part of their effort to make the company carbon neutral.

And don’t forget poultry. China is on top of this one too, already with a chicken-manure biogas plant up and running near Beijing.

Photo Credit: TOTO

Toot Engines

Poop isn’t only useful for generating electricity; it can also fuel your vehicle. Who knew that it would one day be your exhaust that was coming out of your car?

In fact, Volkswagen has debuted a version of its iconic Bug that runs on processed sewage. Its converted 2.0-liter, four-cylinder motor can generate speeds up to 114 miles per hour.

The city of Oslo, Norway, is also fueling its buses with flatulence, so to speak. Sewage from about 250,000 Oslo residents is enough to operate 80 buses for around 62,000 miles each.

Perhaps the most bizarre poop-powered vehicle, though, is this motorcycle with a built in toilet (pictured above). Or is it a toilet with a built-in motorcycle? Designed by Japanese toilet manufacturer Toto, the bike ensures that you’ll never have to stop to use the rest room, or a gas station, ever again.

Photo Credit: Kuzmin Andrey/Shutterstock

Diaper Power

Toilets are handy receptacles for capturing and pumping our poop to centralized treatment plants. But what about the waste that doesn’t make it to the toilet? No, I’m not talking about peeing in the shower. I’m talking about when your baby poops (before it was potty trained, that is).

Of course, that’s what diapers are for. But why let all of that waste to go to, ahem, waste? That’s what Canadian company AMEC-PLC was asking. So they built a facility capable of turning billions of poopy diapers into energy.

While collecting all of those diapers is still an arduous and, let’s face it– dirty, task, it certainly beats having the diapers end up in landfills.

Photo Credit: Matt Ragen/Shutterstock

Prisoner Poop

Generating power to cook for around 10,000 inmates isn’t cheap for Cyangugu prison in Rwanda: they used to spend about $44,000 dollars annually just for firewood (that’s a lot of money in Rwanda). It also means a lot of trees being cut down.

That was before a 150 cubic meter biogas digester was donated by the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology’s Center for Innovations and Technology Transfer. Now poop collected from 1,500 of the prison’s inmates is being used to power the kitchens, cutting the energy bill in half.

It certainly gives a whole new meaning to the idea of a ‘gas-powered stove.’

Photo Credit: Mat Hayward/Shutterstock

Pooper-Scoopers

Aside from those of you who have trained your pets to use the toilet, dogs and cats represent another fountainhead of poop that has been under-utilized as a power source. But a methane digester might be coming soon to a dog park near you.

A plan, originally imagined by artist Matthew Mazzotta, to turn dog waste into power for lamps at a dog park in Cambridge, MA, has caught the world by storm. The idea is pretty simple: instead of tossing your pets’ poops in a trashcan, you toss it into an on-site 500-gallon biogas digester. The digester then generates enough power for the park’s lamps.

Dog parks as far away as Gilbert, Arizona and Melbourne, Australia, have already begun employing their own pet-poop power stations too.

Photo Credit: David Gallaher/Shutterstock

Zoo Poo

We’ve covered human sewage, farm animal waste, dog droppings, and even baby poop. What’s left?

Zoos are another place with major poop problems, and I don’t just mean from the patrons. All of those animals generate a lot of waste, and keeping zoo facilities powered up can be expensive. Zoos therefore make perfect places for utilizing poop power.

The Munich Zoo in Germany is the first zoo in the world to take full advantage. They’ve installed three large digesters for generating biogas, which are filled up weekly with the poop from all of the park’s vegetarian animals. (The elephants make the most significant contributions). The energy generated then goes toward heating the enclosures of various warm-weather critters.

Photo Credit: Nanyang Technological University

Toilet Tech

If we’re going to take poop power seriously, then we’ll need to begin thinking differently about toilet technology too. Luckily, researchers are already on it.

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University have invented a new toilet system that not only makes the distribution of our poop more efficient, but it saves a ton on water too.

The system saves on water by working a lot like the vacuum toilets that exist in airplane lavatories. Perhaps most impressive, though, is the way it separates liquid from solid waste. Liquid waste can then be streamlined straight to a facility that specializes in creating fertilizer. Meanwhile, solid waste gets flushed to a biogas plant to be transformed into electricity or fuel.

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Scientists created this “Frankenstein” grass by inserting a specific corn gene into the switchgrass. The gene keeps the grass from aging, leaving it to languish in its youthful starchiness without entering its adult phases of flowering, seed production and growth. The starch that would otherwise be used by the plant for nourishing flower buds and blossoms stays in the stem instead.

In addition to getting the crops just right, the research team is also monitoring water use needed to grow these crops, recognizing that “water availability could be the single most limiting factor in U.S. biomass production.”

This high-efficiency ingredient will make biofuel production less costly, possibly even giving it the needed boost to compete with petroleum-based fuels. As Revmodo has covered, the Navy is currently working to transition to biofuels and other forms of clean energy. Those efforts have been met with Republican opposition from Congressmen who claim it’s a concern over costs: using ethanol and other biofuels costs significantly more than conventional fuels.

The scientists involved in the project are optimistic that the switchgrass will be established as a reliable bioenergy crop, leading the U.S. to energy independence. Ann Perry from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service said, “I’m glad that so many scientists are now working together on ways of establishing switchgrass as a bioenergy crop that can help the United States develop its own renewable energy sources.”

This new switchgrass gives hope to the idea that biofuel production could one day be cost-competitive, making arguments like the Republicans’ less convincing, biofuel use more widespread, and the world greener for everyone.

Main photo credit: HJ Schneider/Shutterstock

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After beginning construction on the demonstration plant in Columbus, New Mexico back in 2011 at a cost of $135 million, California-based Sapphire Energy has successfully harvested 21 million gallons of algae biomass from its first ponds that were first seeded with algae in March. Named the Green Crude Farm, the facility covers over 300 acres and consists of some of the largest algae ponds ever built.

“Bringing our Green Crude Farm online is not only an important accomplishment for Sapphire Energy, but a critical step toward a viable alternative energy future,” says Cynthia ‘CJ’ Warner, chief executive of Sapphire Energy. “What was once a concept is now becoming a reality and model for growing algae to make a renewable crude oil for energy.”

After converting all the harvested biomass into useable oils, the company hopes to be able to produce 10,000 barrels a day of algae-based biofuel by 2018. And while that may seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the 19 million barrels per day the U.S. uses of refined petroleum and biofuel products, it’s a good start and it’s only from one facility. Sapphire states that so far, the demonstration plant has exceeded initial projections, providing hope that we can someday produce a large percentage of our fuel needs right here at home from algae biomass.

[via Ecoseed]

Image Credit: Sapphire Energy

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Sure to generate giggles from the 12 year old within all of us, this three-wheeled motorcycle from Japan-based toilet company TOTO Ltd. made its debut Thursday at a showroom in Fujisawa, near Tokyo. And while it isn’t actually made to be powered by a pooping rider cruising down the highway, according to Metro UK the highly-efficient 250cc engine is made to run on biofuel generated from livestock waste or waste water from Shika-oi Town in Hokkaido and Kobe city. The toilet seat on top of the bike is for effect only, used to generate interest in the technology.

We have vehicles running on biofuels made from algae, cooking grease, animal fats, seeds and other assorted oils. Why not livestock waste? There is plenty of it to go around and no chance of it ever running out. Sounds like the perfect biofuel to provide for our transportation needs. Leave it to a toilet company to build a prototype motorcycle meant to run on the stuff.

“We hope to raise awareness among customers about our green campaign through development of environmentally-friendly products such as water-saving showerheads and water-saving toilets,” said TOTO spokesman Kenji Fujita. Anything that does that, including the building of the Toilet Bike Neo motorcycle, is good with me.

[via AutoBlog Green]

Image Credit: AP Photo/Koji Sasahara/Metro UK

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The latest company to get in on the action is American Biogas Conditioning from Syracuse, N.Y. Unveiling its technology at Twin Birch Farms, a dairy farm in Skaneatles, N.Y., on Tuesday, the system offers a way to use their organic waste and cut electricity costs. Farmers can simply put the waste into a sealed container, where it is broken down into biogas by bacteria. The biogas is then burned to become electricity. This particular approach focuses on removing hydrogen sulfide from the biogas, and it will cut the cost of current waste removal methods by 90 percent.

The project was partially funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), which provided $470,000 to help the company develop the technology.

“By investing in clean energy power technologies, we are not only helping to improve power reliability and reduce electric costs but we are also helping to grow the state’s clean-energy economy,” said Francis J. Murray Jr., president and CEO of NYSERDA. “Under Governor Cuomo’s leadership, these types of projects can lead to new technology that will greatly benefit our environment while stimulating economic growth.”

Twin Birch Farms expects the equipment to save the facility $90,000 per year. American Biogas looks to grow its six-person operation to 35 employees over the next five years – just another example of environmental protection leading directly to economic growth.

Main photo credit: Geograph

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Columbia Biogas will convert commercial food waste to energy at its plant in Northwest Portland, and deliver the power to PacifiCorp, an electricity provider. The companies believe the plant will be the first in the U.S. to generate energy from food waste from within an urban industrial setting.

Using anaerobic digestion in sealed tanks, Columbia will capture enough biogas to generate 3 megawatts of electric power — enough to power 3,000 typical homes. Eventually, production is expected to reach as much as 5 megawatts.

The facility will collect food waste from grocery stores, restaurants, industrial food processors and other businesses. It can also recover liquid waste including oils and grease. The plant’s location near Portland businesses will also reduce hauling costs and save businesses time.

In addition to electricity, Columbia Biogas will create fertilizer and other products from the food waste. The processing also creates waste heat, which will be captured and used by the plant. The facility will also use a multi-stage filtration process to recycle water from the waste.

Main photo credit: sporkist/Flickr

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Matt Hartwig of the Renewable Fuels Association called the decision “a good first step.”

Currently, the U.S. uses only two advanced biofuels: sugar cane-based ethanol imported from Brazil and domestic biodiesel, a combination of petroleum diesel and renewable sources. Most of what is made in the U.S. is conventional ethanol made from corn — causing some critics to complain that the diversion is raising food prices for consumers. Of course, those critics fail to note that part of the problem is that corn has become the go-to ingredient for everything from soda to cereal. Because sorghum is not typically used in human food, this move should lead to fewer complaints. However,  it is used in feed for poultry, cattle and other livestock, so it is not far-fetched to worry that the move could lead to higher meat and dairy prices.

One Kansas plant run by Western Plains Energy L.L.C. has already started investing in the new sub-industry, putting $30-$40 million into renovations to assure it will be one of the first to turn the crop into advanced ethanol.

“We’re going to try to produce over 50 million gallons (of advanced ethanol) per year,” said Curt Sheldon, the plant’s chief accounting officer. “At today’s prices, we could probably pay for the project in two to three years.”

Main photo credit: Larry Rana/USDA

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In its study, NREL defines what is technically achievable considering topographic limitations, land-use and environmental constraints for each state. Using state-level maps and tables incorporating available land area, installed capacity in gigawatts, and electric generation in gigawatt-hours for each technology, the study lays out in detail the broad “sense of the scale regarding the potential for renewables and which technologies are worth examining,” says report co-author Anthony Lopez.

“Decision-makers using the study will get a sense of scale regarding the potential for renewables, and which technologies are worth examining,” said Lopez. “Energy modelers also will find the study valuable.”

The report “normalizes” its assessment of the six clean energy technologies, unifying methods and assumptions in the comparison to give a clear picture of the technical potential for renewable energy across the country.

Some states and regions stand out for particular technologies. For instance, Hawaii has the most potential for offshore wind; the Lone Star State is prime for Texas-sized utility-scale PV solar (with California on its boot heels); the Rocky Mountain states roil with geothermal energy; the Great North of Alaska and the northwest offer the most potential for hydropower. In all, “it looks like every state has something to work with,” says Lopez.

According to the study the U.S. has 481,800 terawatt-hours of potential generating capacity from all renewable energy sources combine – 212,224 gigawatts. Those are big numbers, and more than enough to meet our current needs.

Of course, it isn’t as easy as simply mapping potential. The report  does not take into account economics and market forces, and the question of energy transmission remains- getting the power where it is needed. But the NREL study makes clear the potential of clean energy to transform the nation into a leader of the new energy economy – if we are up to the challenge.

Main image credit: fotopedia.com
Map credit: National Renewable Energy Laboratory

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