United Nations University Report states that power from human waste could light millions of homes.
The report claims that biogas from human waste has the potential to generate electricity for millions of homes while improving health and protecting the environment.
The United Nations Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) has recently issued a study claiming that biogas potentially available from all the human waste in the world would be the equivalent of up to $9.5 billion worth of natural gas a year and could produce electricity for as many as 138 million homes.
Moreover, in low-income countries, the use of biogas could finance development; as stated by UNU-INWEH director Zafar Adeel: “when it comes to creating misery and poverty, human waste mismanagement has few rivals”.
The report calculated as well that the residue from treated waste could, on a global scale, can produce up to 2 million tonnes a year of renewable energy that could substitute for coal and charcoal, saving trees and protecting the environment.
“Challenges are many, but clearly there is a compelling, multi-dimensional financial case to be made for deriving energy from waste,” said Chris Metcalfe, a co-author of the report.
Source: Reuters UK
Read more here.
