Salt Lake City Plan May Turn Sewer Waste To Energy 90
tuxd00d writes "The question goes something like this: How many toilet flushes does it take to power a light bulb? There's really no answer, but Salt Lake City is exploring a pilot project that would convert sewer waste into energy to run a heating and cooling system in a downtown building, city water department official Jeff Niermeyer said."
*bangs on radiator* (Score:5, Funny)
Turbines embeded in pipes? (Score:2, Funny)
Biomass Research at U of MN (Score:5, Informative)
It sounds like it works similar to the biomass ideas I've heard that are constantly arising [com.com]. I would like to see a formal unbiased study done on what process applied to X renewable resources (in this case, waste) is the most efficient in net energy return.
There have been some recent minor [renewablee...access.com] achievements [twincities.com] by a research team at the University of Minnesota (my alma mater) [umn.edu].
I'm not sure if it's related to an effort to introduce it to the public [virginiamn.com]. From that article You might laugh but Biomass is important in Minnesota [mnbiomassexchange.org]--although I realize that the current process isn't as BTU profitable as some Brazilian sugar cane plants, but hopefully they can squeeze more and more useful resources out of what was normally considered waste.
I wonder if it would be possible in the future to engineer plants which when harvested produce an optimal BTU return
Crappy use of taxpayer's dollars? (Score:2)
Seriously though, I'm all for alternative energy, but to really make a difference, the technology has to be cost effective and scalable. That is the ONLY way it will ever get adopted. Wind is moving in that direction and I think nuclear is becoming more viable again.... but many other stuff: solar, wave power, etc... has a LONG way to go.
Envision an owl here... (Score:2)
One...
Two...
Three...
*karuuuunch*
What the hell was that?!?
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The inevitable (Score:3, Interesting)
The idea of powering things from seemingly worthless waste matter isn't new - there's that Swedish train powered by methane from fermented cow offal [bbc.co.uk], for example. I know sewage works produce a lot of methane anyway, so it's possibly just a matter of collecting it in a cost-effective manner...
Land-fill sites might be next. I've seen small flares stuck into the ground, burning off excess methane, to stop it collecting to dangerous, explosive levels. Once again, it's a matter of whether it's cost-effective to collect this otherwise free gas.
Not that new (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/C
Power outage (Score:5, Funny)
the shit doesn't hit the fan (Score:2, Funny)
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Infantile Pun Warning (Score:2, Funny)
bindun? (Score:1, Redundant)
flushing money down the toilet!
its the shit...!
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Why?
KFG
"Just" a heat pump? (Score:5, Informative)
It is a nice idea for sure, I wonder if this hasn't been done already though.
People here in Denmark are having heat pumps installed all over the place and people place these water/air lines all over the place to get air for their heat pump a little hotter than otherwise, burying the lines in the earth below frost depth seems to be a normal choice, but if you anyhow do have a dunghill or something like that why not let the pipes run through there.
Anyhow heat pumps sure is one of the many things that we need to use a lot more in the future, no one technology will be able to replace our use of hydrocarbons, but if we combine all the technologies we have a shot of actually significantly reduce our CO2 emissions.
They should try this in Washington D.C. (Score:1)
Trick Question (Score:1, Informative)
A toilet flush produces a certain amount of energy.
A lightbulb consumes a certain amount of power (assuming a certain average).
You just can't compare the two. You have to integrate power over time first. A better question would be, "how many flushes of the toilet does it take to power a 15W lightbulb for a year?"
Then you can argue that it also depends on what, exactly you are flushing, and its energy content. Maybe some people's poop is more effective than others.
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He's not a gas & oil law official. He's an attorney. It's a natural fit for him, because as an attorney he's full of . . .
I wonder if it would be possible in the future to engineer plants which when harvested produce an optimal BTU return. .
Sure, it'll just take hundreds of years to grow them.
KFG
Tag Trolling (Score:3, Insightful)
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Inaccurate title (Score:5, Informative)
Now, using a heat pump might be rather novel in itself -- but extracting energy from sewage is nothing new. We've been doing this in Sweden for quite some time now -- except chemically. Here's a random link with some information about one such installation
The resulting biogas is used to replace natural gas in different applications, and we have for quite some time had Bi-Fuel vehicles that can run compressed biogas as well as gasoline, that enjoy certain tax benifits. Also, I seem to remember that a new residential area in Stockholm, Hammarby Sjöstad, is getting a biogas system for heating (and maybe for cooking, I can't remember)...
Either way. Extracting energy from sewage is not a new idea. Extracting heat energy from sewage using a heat pump might be a novel idea, but it's not really any new exciting technology, just a rather clever application of existing technology. Calling it "turning sewer waste to energy" is inaccurate, because the actual sewer waste isn't consumed when you do just, you just cool it down.
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Are you sure?
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"From some reason my Earl Grey's a bit darker today..."
more details in Trib article (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_4602892/ [sltrib.com]
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Fun-Puter Recovery? (Score:2)
Er, um, prima-facia ridiculous, MST3K quote (Score:3, Interesting)
As they said on the MST3K parody of "The Mole People":
"Oh NO! Light just slightly brighter than what we're accustomed to!"
You cannot "heat a building 95% of the time" with a temp lower than your desired temperature. Maybe the soft-pedalled HEAT PUMP can. And with water five degrees warmer than the groundwater, the heat pump will be about 1.2% more efficient. Which can never pay off the added cost, not even the interest on the cost. No way, no how. They'd be much better off spending the $20K on a more efficient heat pump.
Who control Bartertown? (Score:2)
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(Testing, testing, 1 2 3, testing...)
Already done (Score:4, Informative)
The methane is usually used to power the waste water plant itself. Also often used as fuel in busses and cars.
Cool, but.. (Score:2)
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A major problem with eco-friendly technology is the relatively undeveloped state of most of the world. Processes like these are novelty in America and practically unheard of in Russia, for example, even if they are becoming c
Energy from sewer waste? (Score:5, Funny)
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What *I* wanna hear is (Score:2)
-Eric
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I wonder (Score:2, Troll)
WHIZNews? (Score:3, Funny)
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Landfill gas is already being used for power (Score:1)
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For those confused, a FOX reactor is simple: Essentially, you're pumping o
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Nope, not that either. Translated from (warning: only in swedish) http://www.goteborgenergi.se/Foretag/Fjarrvarme_DX NI-4027_.aspx [goteborgenergi.se] : "...with heat pumps we extract energy from cleaned sewer water and we also handle waste heat from industries and garbage burning..."
I heard about the sewer water heat pumps in a radio program a couple of years ago. Apparently it's successful enough that they get visits from people interested i
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Its just a heat pump. (Score:1)
Additionally, they may be just moving the heating/cooling problem somewhere else. If they are using any sort of digester's for treating the sewage, the city may need to add/remove heat to bring the sewage up to the best temperature for the
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Actually, it was simply some quickly-typed padding to disguise the real intent of my comment - which was to get the 'itsacrap' tag in use. Successes:
Twisting the Slashdot populace to my nefarious will? Absolutely! ;-)
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This kind of system in REAL scale is already viable and implemented in Gothenburg for example. The recovered energy from sewage water wit
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That was my first thought, too...
Shit in your veggies... (Score:2, Informative)
The the fact that waste "digestion" produces methane has been known for years.
What got in the way in Columbus was the environmentalists that think that producing our own methane to consume is hazardous to the environment. They stopped the process, and now the solid waste is mixed with mulch and topsoil to create a "Super Fertilizer", which citizens can pay for and use in their landscaping and gardens
Great news for the fan! (Score:3, Funny)
Brilliant! (Score:2)
Only in SLC... (Score:2)
Its also one of those places where the government is available at an affordable cost to approach schemes like this one where anywhere else it would have an EIR, DOE and USC regs to begin an introduction.
This was done where I worked (Score:1)
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Lemme hear ya say... (Score:1)
Hey it's no worse than the other shitty jokes in this thread.
Hybrid? (Score:1)
Confusing subject about TFA (Score:1)
Burning the methane that is a byproduct of one form of wastewater treatment is neither novel or new. Many, if not most, of these types of wastewater treatment facilities produce a net energy surplus, which is more often than not inputted to the power grid. If you live in a modern city in a developed nation, it would be unusual for your city not to have one or more of these type of facilities.
But that is not what
ob Austin Powers Reference (Score:2)
This coffee tastes like shit.
It is shit.
Oh. It's a bit nutty.