Human Poo-Powered Vehicle Hits the Road

The Bio-Bug runs on methane gas 

generated from processing waste materials 

[From CBS News Here]

     Spare the jokes about Dung Beetles but the first methane-powered vehicle from Volkswagen made its official debut today on the streets of Bristol, England. The car, a 2 liter VW Beetle convertible, can drive 10,000 miles a year on the equivalent of the solid waste that 70 homes generate over the course of 12 months. If the car runs out of compressed methane, the system switches back to gasoline. 

     Fad or the future? At this point, that's hard to say though Geneco, the U.K. company which oversaw the conversion project, believes it's only a matter of time before methane from sewage sludge can become a popular alternative energy source for cars. (The Bio-Bug was built by the Greenfuel Company, which converts gasoline-based cars to run on liquefied petroleum gas.) In its press release, Geneco points out that more than 11,500 vehicles in Sweden run on biomethane made from sewage plants. It also notes that India and China use compressed natural gas to fuel their vehicles. But the idea still remains a novelty in the UK and virtually non-existent in the United States. 

     Geneco, which operates one of Britain's biggest sewage treatment works, put out a statement quoting the company's general manager, Mohammed Saddiq explaining how the increased production of bio gas will accelerate the growth in this still-nascent market.

     "Waste flushed down the toilets in homes in the city provides power for the Bio-Bug, but it won't be long before further energy is produced when food waste is recycled at our sewage works," he said. "It will mean that both human waste and food waste will be put to good use in a sustainable way that diverts waste from going to landfill."

     And why choose a Volkswagon Beetle for the proof-of-concept prototype in the first place? That was the contribution of a group of students who took part in a workshop, according to Siddiq.

"They thought it would be appropriate that the poo-powered car should be the classic VW Beetle Bug because bugs naturally breakdown waste at sewage works to start the treatment process which goes on to produce the energy," he said.

Assembly Candidate Sees Jatropha Tree as a Key to Barstow’s Future

Desmond Farrelly

Democratic candidate for the 34th AD,
holds a jatropha plant and seeds that
could bring new agriculture to Barstow.

Assembly candidate sees

Jatropha tree as

a key to Barstow’s future

By Aaron Aupperlee, city editor

September 12, 2008 - 3:44PM
(Article Truncated)

BARSTOW — Desmond Farrelly massaged a leaf of a young jatropha plant and talked about Barstow’s future.

Part of the 34th Assembly district Democratic nominee’s platform is developing alternative fuel sources and wean California off oil, and Farrelly thinks he found a winner in the obscure jatropha tree.

“I picked up seeds in South Asia 10 years ago, and who knew that it would be a need today,” he said. “This is the future of Barstow. This is the future of desert communities.”

Jatropha is a green, leafy tree that can grows in less than ideal soils around the world. Popular in tropical deserts in Mexico and Southeast Asia and China, the plant produces seeds that contain a high content of oil. When refined, the oil can be used a fuel, said Mark Hodson, a vice president of business development and investor relations at the Los Angeles-based biofuel firm Global Clean Energy. His company maintains about 5,000 acres of jatropha trees in the Yucatan region of Mexico.

“It’s certainly a fantastic fuel source,” Hodson said. “It’s a very tough plant.”

Domestic farming and use of jatropha is small, but the plant has been popular in India, China, Southeast Asia and South America for a while. Hodson said the plant requires little water, can sustain draughts, loves the sunlight and does not require a lot of nutrients to grow. Hodson’s company is looking to bring the crop into Southern California. Farrelly said it sounds like the perfect plant to weather Barstow’s conditions.

The only drawback, according to both, is that jatropha cannot withstand frequent frosts. The High Desert winters would spell trouble for the tree. However, Farrelly said his strain, grown on a farm in Stockton for about 10 years now, is frost resistant. Hodson said his coming is developing frost resistant strains as well.

In addition to producing a renewable fuel source, Farrelly is hoping jatropha can bolster Barstow’s economy. Growing the plant will produce jobs, processing and refining the oil will produce jobs and selling the fuel to trucks and trains will produce jobs, he said. Hodson, too, said the tree will bring jobs to areas where nothing could take seed.

FACT FILE
30 to 40 years a jatropha tree can live
31% to 37% oil content in a jatropha seed
$42 to $45 cost of a barrel of refined jatropha biofuel
$102 cost of a barrel of oil as of Friday
Sources: Global Clean Energy, The Associated Press

Did you know?
A jatropha fruit, or nut, is inedible and toxic. Mark Hodson of Global Clean Energy said this means food crops will not be sacrificed for jatropha. Other jatropha experts, however, worry that processing jatropha could produce a toxic vapor harmful to workers.
Sources: Global Clean Energy, Reuters

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4121 or aaron_aupperlee@link.freedom.com

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