People are being forever told to cut down waste and a Queensland business has come up with an ingenious way to do this – a vehicle powered by electricity generated by human waste.
Aptly named ‘Number 2’, a Hyundai Kono Electric has joined join the Urban Utilities ‘poo car’ line up.
“On average, one person’s daily habits can generate enough electricity to make the car travel around 450 metres,” said Urban Utilities spokesperson Anna Hartley.
Ms Hartley said the power used to charge the SUV was produced when bio-gas from sewage treatment was fed into a cogeneration unit, a giant engine that generates electricity, at the Oxley wastewater treatment plant in Brisbane.
“They might not realise it, but more than 330,000 people in Brisbane’s south and west are helping to create fuel for our poo-powered cars every time they flush,” she said.
Ms Hartley said turning poo into power was also saving Urban Utilities around $1.7 million a year in operating costs.
“Last financial year we produced enough electricity to power the equivalent of nearly 4,000 homes for an entire year,” she said.
“Poo power doesn’t only help keep our cars on the road, it also helps us run our two largest wastewater treatment plants at Oxley and Luggage Point.
That’s some real ‘poo power’.
