There's a new Bio Bus, and it Runs on...Poo?

Image:Focus Transport

In the UK, a new type of bus has been making runs (no pun intended) on the A4, shuttling passengers between  Bristol Airport and the city of Bath. It looks like any other bus and it sounds like any other bus, but there is a critical difference that makes this one a standout - it's powered by human waste. And If you care to read on, I'm going to do my best to explain this without sounding like James May (RIP Top Gear).

Poo produces something called bio-methane gas. And somewhere along the line engineers figured out that if they could concentrate this gas enough, it could be used as a renewable source of energy, in turn cutting down pollution, and making use of renewable energy sources, making the things that were powered by it more efficient. This brings us to the UK company, GENeco, who were the first company in the UK to inject the bio-methane gas produced from food and sewage waste into the national gas grid network. This then gave way to the first refueling station that was designed for what is now called the "Bio Bus", which is run by Bath Bus Company.

Using the annual waste produced by one busload of people, the Bio Bus is able to make the 300km
(186 mile) journey between Bristol Airport and Bath without having to stop off for a refuel. That's pretty much on par with the typical driving habits or what you'd expect from a commute like this, which means there's no real adaptation needed, and that while it's a ground breaking concept, it won't change your routine in any noticeable way, which is a nice way to introduce a new concept to an environment with those that aren't strong advocates of  'change'. And don't think that this is the only area this solution has worked.

According to a Press release from GENeco, General Manager Mohammad Saddiq stated "Through treating sewage and food thats unfit for human consumption we're able to produce enough biomethane to provide a significant supply of gas to the national gas network that's capable of powering almost 8,500 homes as well as fuelling the Bio-Bus."

This astonishing statistic is possible, quite simply, because everyone has to use the bathroom. Everyone goes number 2, and everyone produces waste, which means that we are our own source of renewable energy. Which means, even if you're the most hardcore V8 'save the manuals' fanatic, you can't be criticized by Green Peace because your poo is helping supply power to over 8,000 homes. But don't think that this is the first time that poop has been used as power.

In 2010, The Greenfuel Company, based in the UK, converted a Volkswagen Beetle to run on Bio-methane (The Dung Beetle. HA - I'll let myself out here), and in 2009, the city of Oslo converted 80 of their buses to run on the same 'wonder gas' as they coined it, in their efforts to be carbon neutral by 2050.  And, of course the Swedes, who have long been anti-sports car and anti-pollution, have, unsurprisingly, been using bio methane gas technology for years, with over 38,000 vehicles running on the gas.

The first ride took visiting tourists from Bristol Airport to Bath, and has been running since. So the moral of this new energy source and how it helps the environment? If you use the bathroom, you can be that much more satisfied knowing that your time on the crapper just helped make the environment that much cleaner, and hey, you might just make someone that much richer, too.