Oh S**t!

Poo

This is something that (if you are regular) we do every day, but it is one of those things people don't like to think about.  However, in order to make proactive choices about our planet in our daily lives we need to think about it- because when it isn't it can become a combined problem as big as global warming itself.

Did anyone know scientists are researching this to combat global warming (amont other things)?:

Human Manure Eyed as Energy Source in Vancouver, Canada

2005  Pilot Plant On Stream To Turn Manure Into Usable Energy

The Alberta Research Council (ARC) and Highmark Renewables have marked the official opening of a new pilot plant at Highland Feeders, one of Canada's largest feedlot operations. The plant demonstrates new technology developed jointly by ARC and Highmark Renewables to transform manure into energy, bio-based fertilizers and reusable water, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts associated with land application of manure.

Has anyone heard anything recent on this about the performance of this plant???
Hm... wonder about the smell and where we would put these...
I also get the impression that most people would be more vocal about the smell of this than say, the dangers of putting up a nuclear power plant somewhere - despite that one energy solution is solving a problem and the other is arguably creating one...

How it works

Quote from a members only "restricted article"

Rittman has a grant of $100000 from NASA to design a compact microbial fuel cell that consumes human waste during a manned astronaut mission.

Microbial fuel cell: High yield hydrogen source and wastewater cleaner

University Park, Pa. -- Using a new electrically-assisted microbial fuel cell (MFC) that does not require oxygen, Penn State environmental engineers and a scientist at Ion Power Inc. have developed the first process that enables bacteria to coax four times as much hydrogen directly out of biomass than can be generated typically by fermentation alone.

Bruce Logan, the Kappe professor of environmental engineering and an inventor of the MFC, says, "This MFC process is not limited to using only carbohydrate-based biomass for hydrogen production like conventional fermentation processes. We can theoretically use our MFC to obtain high yields of hydrogen from any biodegradable, dissolved, organic matter -- human, agricultural or industrial wastewater, for example -- and simultaneously clean the wastewater.

Chinese team uses raw sewage to heat or cool buildings

Chinese researchers say they have invented a cheap and eco-friendly way to keep city-dwellers warm in winter and cool in summer - using untreated sewage. Their device extracts heat from raw sewage that has been temporarily diverted on its way to the processing plant. It can also make air conditioning units run more efficiently, and absorb the heat they remove from buildings. The device can reduce the cost of heating and air conditioning systems by 20 per cent. Sun's invention works in conjunction with the standard 'heat pump' system used in air conditioning units. By creating a series of filters to retain the solid waste, which would otherwise block the pipes, the device leaves the liquid component free to enter the pump and transfer its heat to a coil filled with Freon - the trade name for a gas used as a refrigerant. The liquid sewage then returns to the device to carry the solid waste away to the processing plant. The Freon, meanwhile, is compressed to further warm it, and diverted to a condenser, which heats a water-filled coil. A fan blows the heated air around the coil into the room.