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Dog poop powerThe concept of converting poop into energy is not new, and it’s one that TerraPass has done much to support. That said, when I read that San Francisco was studying the possibility of processing poop from its canine population, I almost laughed out loud, until I read that almost four percent of the city’s trash was pet waste. That was a bit sobering, considering SF has close to a million human residents generating trash.
It made me think a bit more about animal waste, both in terms of landfill space and water pollution, which is a serious issue in many parts of California. While responsible pet parents pick up their pet’s waste, many do not, allowing the feces to wash into rivers, with surprising consequences. Ongoing declines in California’s sea otter population have been linked to a form of parasite only known to come from cat poop, and water quality issues in Lake Tahoe have been partially blamed on dog waste. So clean up after your pet. But then what? The waste would have to be collected, which might entail collection bins in parks and public areas, and separated from the ubiquitous plastic bags used to collect it. Perhaps people could be persuaded to simply turn out the waste from the bag into another container, then dispose of the bag separately. Not hard to imagine, considering that people have been convinced to pick up dog poop in the first place. The other solution, mentioned in the original article, would be to use biodegrable bags which could go straight into the processing facilities. If we could start processing that biomass into energy, it would be a step in the right direction, since the methane produced as fecal matter decomposes is one of the worst greenhouse gasses (global warming potential over 21 times that of CO2 ). While this wouldn’t be a benefit for large landfills that are already required to do methane processing, it would be a great program to institute at small facilities that may not be under such a requirement. The benefits could be significant. Given that there are 65 million dogs and 78 million cats in the US, according to the Humane Society, the amount of potential biomass that could be collected and processed is over 10 million tons. In urban areas, the collection could run as described above; in rural areas, groups of pet owners or individual owners of large groups of pets could operate small scale biomass digesters, perhaps based on models currently in use in India. The Indian model uses cow manure, and can generate enough methane from a single pound of biomass to cook the daily meals for a family of four to six people. While it would take more than one dog to generate the same biomass as a single cow, the aggregated annual waste from a single city park could exceed the yearly production of that cow, which is equivalent to 50 gallons of gasoline. Remember that next time you’re cleaning up after your dog. It’s not only polite, it’s patriotic; it could actually reduce our oil consumption and promote energy independence, and that is no laughing matter. Comments
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San Francisco has about 700,000 residents. Close but not 1 million.
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I think that this is an outstanding idea whose time has come, and I also think that we should include all of the cow manure produced in the U.S., both from the commercial beef industry and the free-range, all-natural, humanely treated cows produced using sustainable agriculture by companies such as Maverick Ranch.
Living in the Midwest, I can tell you that American farmers produce more cow manure than you'd even really want to think about for very long. I don't know how much, but my guess would be millions of tons, and if we could turn that into energy, it would put a serious dent into foreign oil consumption, hopefully enough to eliminate it entirely. The U.S. is OPEC's biggest customer by far- we buy 55% of their oil. The day we stop buying, the Middle East will come to a screeching halt. I think that when we radically decrease the importance of oil through the development of alternative energy, such as that from pet and livestock waste, we will radically decrease the number of fights, "police actions", and all-out wars over oil, which is an essential step towards world peace.
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I htink anytime you say world peace it has negative connotations and you're branded as a tree-hugging hippie (also for some reason bad). However, I agree that we should be seeking alternate sources of energy but there is another option that can be implemented, energy conservation. It's the cheapest and easiest method of "using less oil". I'm not even talking hermit-like sacrifices, just simple things you do everyday (purchasing energy star equipment, programmable thermostats, timers, compact fluorescents). The only down side is that it's rather "un-american" to conserve. Might have the patriot act coming down on me.
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If you are concerned about the space in a landfill, you can always look into a pet waste composter.
http://www.cityfarmer.org/petwaste.html
http://www.composters.com/docs/petdigester.html
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For people saying that this will solve our energy problems:
Just remember that it takes a lot more (food) energy to produce that poop. And food energy is heavily dependent on fossil fuels for planting, harvesting, fertilizers, pesticides, transportation. In fact, for every calorie of food ultimately consumed, 10 calories of hydrocarbon energy (oil) was used.
So yes, recycling poop will reduce the enormous amount of energy we waste. But it's still a net energy loser.
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animal waste is just nasty.. we really need something like that where i live (signs and everything)
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Wow, that's a really fantastic way to recycle dog's nasty poops. Science can do a lot during these days. A contribution to solve global warming.
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At Pethabitats, we manufacture the original, patented 100% flushable waste bag and a convenient pack that carries both used and unused bags. They are strong enough to not break down prematurely yet thin enough to easily flush in any toilet without clogging pipes. This also keeps waste out of the local landfills where it can pollute our water supply. Many cities are passing ordinances that prohibit the disposal of pet waste in garbage cans. Go to our website for a free sample.
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I think its a great idea,Wow, that's a really fantastic way to recycle dog's nasty poops. Science can do a lot during these days. A contribution to solve global warming.
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