ENGINE FUEL
It is not going to hit the fan; it is too useful
Californian scientists have come up with a new(ish) solution to our power problems: human faeces, writes Keith Bryer
One of the great things about people is their ability to adapt and to be inventive when confronted with a problem, even theoretical ones like the awful doom that awaits us as the climate changes or — OMG — the world is running out of oil and gas to provide the fuel needed for a comfortable life. Nuclear energy causes needless sleepless nights and there is no shortage of gas or oil. Wind and solar power, biogas and biofuels are good replacements, should all the gas and oil mysteriously evaporate. And, just in case that all runs out, Californian scientists have come up with a new(ish) solution: using human faeces. There is so much of the stuff in the US (don’t laugh, most countries generate millions of tonnes of it) that scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, have designed a method of converting it to a fuel that can power engines. Annual US production of such waste is estimated at more than 1-billion tonnes. It is made up of the excretions of humans and other mammal...
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