Aug 7, 2010

Volkswagen Creates Sewage-Powered Beetle

"The Telegraph reports that Volkswagen is giving new meaning to the term ' beetle_1691444c.jpgDung Beetle' with a prototype able to cover 10,000 miles annually on the waste from 70 households. The Bio-Bug was launched by Wessex Water, which is generating methane from human waste at a sewage treatment works near Bristol. 'Our site has been producing biogas for many years, which we use to generate electricity to power the site and export to the National Grid,' says one company official. 'We decided to power a vehicle on the gas, offering a sustainable alternative to using fossil fuels which we so heavily rely on in the UK.'

 The Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association says the launch of the Bio-Bug proves that biomethane from sewage sludge can be used as fuel. 'This is a very exciting and forward-thinking project demonstrating the myriad benefits of anaerobic digestion (releasing energy from waste). Biomethane cars could be just as important as electric cars.'" - Via /.

Haase - Hardly new idea... Haven't I showed this example several times over the years?
ANY car can be converted to run on BioGas.
 
Three-wheeled ANG vehicles are expected to be the fastest-growing segment of the automotive market with 200 million sales expected, most of them in Asia. Running these critters on natural gas seems like an affordable way to relieve some of the potential pollution that they will bring, although burning ANG still produces CO2.
Energtek has announced that it's collaborating with the Filipino government and PNOC-EC to convert three-wheeled vehicles to natural gas-powered systems by means of storing it in tanks of Adsorbed Natural Gas. Energtek says ANG is safer because it uses lower pressures to store natural gas and allows for easier refuelling.

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