this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2024
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Green Energy

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The Power of đź’© (slrpnk.net)
submitted 3 months ago by Blair@slrpnk.net to c/energy@slrpnk.net
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One of the easiest ways to help the planet might come from...human waste. đź’©

Natural gas is a commonly used fossil fuel. The secret? Natural gas is mostly just methane; the same gas created from human waste.

In fact, toilets exploding can absolutely happen, which is why bringing a candle into an outhouse is a very bad idea. Some places even put this to use, such as using sewers to fuel street lamps(called sewer gas destructor lamps), which have the duel-purpose cutting down on smells and dangerous gas buildups

(Image Source)

There’s also more 💩 can do for us. For example…

  • ⚡️Generate power (use the methane to replace natural gas).
  • đźš— Create fuel for vehicles
  • 🔥 Create fuel for gas burners
  • 🌱 Create compost (biosolids from the sewage treatment/methane plants) to help with phosphorus mining shortages

These options could greatly help with the transition from fossil fuels, and provide incentives for all cities to stop dumping raw sewage(yes, many places still do this).

Videos for more learning:

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[–] randomsnark@lemmy.ml 19 points 3 months ago (1 children)

if a lamppost is powered by poop, does that make it a shitpost

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Therefore when I poop I shitpost.
And I also shitpost when I poop.

[–] ericjmorey@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's the circle of life

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 3 points 3 months ago

Hakuna poopata.

[–] Sanctus@lemmy.world 10 points 3 months ago

The world is already shit, it might as well run on it.

In all seriousness though I do think this is an avenue worth exploring. As we will always have human waste to deal with as long as humans are around.

[–] toaster@slrpnk.net 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm all for using methane as a biproduct of sewage or composting, however "natural gas" used to heat homes, generate electricity, or power cars is a misnomer. Natural gas from oil companies for these purposes are just them selling us the methane biproduct of fracking. Solar > natural gas power plants and heat pumps > natural gas heaters.

Unfortunately, most methane used today is contributing to global warming and increasing the profitability of fracking and oil.

It's akin to how dairy companies get whey as a biproduct when they skim milk and instead of throwing it out, they started selling it for protein powder and as a food additive to increase profits.

[–] Blair@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I agree that solar and heat pumps are better! However, heat pumps and electric vehicles lose effectiveness as the temperature drops. So, when it reaches -40c here, the people who own heat pumps still need their furnace as a backup. Most the time heat pumps are fine, but right now backup heat is still needed for those cold snaps or they risk the cold and their pipes freezing and bursting.

So the idea is to use a renewable source of methane as that fuel until it’s no longer needed(and stopping waste pollution while doing it).

[–] toaster@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That was the case for most of the time heat pumps existed which is why the claim that you can't use heat pumps in very cold climates is still common.

However, the technology has improved significantly and there are now modern cold climate heat pumps which have eliminated the need for natural gas furnaces. Over 2/3 of households in Norway use heat pumps today.

[–] Blair@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 months ago

I tried looking it up, and most sources still say that cold-weather heat pumps only work until -30c, which still isn't cold enough when parts of my province reached -50c. I am not saying I don't believe you, just that I would like to know more haha. According to this, Norway is pretty comparable climate wise to the Canadian averages, but Canada does get colder, so I hope it's not just that.

Heat pumps are gaining in popularity here, just not on their own yet.

[–] zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Isn't that still a carbon-based energy source? Aren't we trying to move away from those?

[–] Blair@slrpnk.net 7 points 3 months ago

The main difference is that it would be moving from non-renewable sources to renewables. As well as that, the methane is already there being released, it’s just right now we don’t use it and instead a large portion of the world just dumps it into the ocean or rivers untreated. So it would be turning human waste pollution into fuel and fertilizer instead of contaminating water sources and releasing the methane.

In cold climates, heat pumps don’t work when it’s gets to -40c, so people who own them have gas furnaces as a backup. The same happens with electric vehicles; their range drops with the temperature, and some stopped working a few days last winter.

SO that’s why human waste is considered a “transition fuel.” It’s an option to supplement other energy sources until we have what we need to transition away for good.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 months ago

Methane is a worse greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, so it's better to burn it. It's also better to burn the methane that is going to be released from sewage anyway and leave fossil fuel gas trapped in the Earth's crust.