05.02.10 ‘Totally green’ electricity – from human waste

People who experiment with human excrement probably shouldn’t boast about their newfound hobby, nor should they dedicate a whole press release to its intricacies, but that is exactly what Thames Water did earlier this week, and with pride.

The firm, which is one of the largest utility companies in the UK, generates around 14% of its energy needs from burning dried blocks of human waste, otherwise known as ‘poo cakes.’ Poo power has knocked an estimated £15m from Thames Water’s electricity bill in the last year alone.

Dr Keith Colquhoun, strategy manager at Thames Water, was on hand to explain – “There's no polite way of saying this, but human poo isn’t simply waste, it's a great source of energy. The solids in sewage have a high calorific content that we use to generate electricity.”

Thames Water has two sewage plants equipped with waste burners, both located in East London. A further twenty plants burn the methane produced by the sewerage process, creating heat that can then be used to generate power. Officials claim that the system is sustainable, and ‘totally green.’

In 1997, the water company was sending thirty barges of human waste every hour to be dumped in the North Sea, where the fish would eat it all up. Today, Thames Water produces just four trucks of ash a day, which is often sold to contractors as a building material.

Of course, the usefulness of poo power varies according to the time of the year: in the summer, when the days are warmer and people are eating fewer large meals, poo cakes produce less energy.

Poo power. It’s an inventive, if unpleasant, solution to the world’s energy woes.

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