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Oslo Buses to Run on Sewage
Mike writes "Rather than let their sewage go to waste, the city of Oslo recently announced that it plans to cut carbon emissions by converting 80 public buses to run on biomethane generated from raw sewage. The city plans to adapt two sewage plans with the technology this September, and the new biogas buses will be quieter and will cut 44 tones of C02 per bus per year."
... and put the toilet right on the bus!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jan/27/biomethane-energy
For now on, every time a Slashdot editor posts a link that isn't the original source of the story, I'll be posting the original link.
"the new biogas buses will be quieter and will cut 44 tones of C02 per bus per year."
It's fortunate that methane is odorless, then.
It's always good to see methane captured and burned into carbon dioxide, since CH4 (methane) is a far stronger greenhouse gas than CO2. On top of that, you can do useful work with the energy—like power a bus fleet—which saves even more carbon emissions.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
I just can't get why this isn't used more than it is. I don't understand why we need to base the whole worlds economy on a few countries in the middle east with a democratic defecit.
Ethanol isn't bad but it does use land that could be used to produce food to grow fuel instead, which seems like a bit of a waste to me. Also the environmental benefits are questionable, I still believe this is better than oil, just not by much.
But methane is something that we all produce. Humans and animals alike. And methane is a very potent greenhouse gas so setting it on fire is actually a net gain for the environment (according to some), and it can be produced locally.
So it should be used more. It has a lot of benefits and very few drawbacks. Now if we could only get cars that would run on it properly and not those petrol-converted-dont-really-want-to-run-on-biomethane-but-will-do-so-for-20km-on-a-full-tank kind of cars.
You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. -- Harlan Ellison
Let's just take it back one step. Oslo buses to run on people!
Yes, but oil-drilling rigs and refineries are often located even farther away, yet gas still get in from them...