What’s Sexy About Toilet Paper?
Eureka!
Have you ever had a Eureka! Moment? Do you know what Eureka means?
The word Eureka means ‘I have found it’ and comes from the Ancient Greek word εὕρηκα heúrēka.
The reason we are familiar with the word is because of the Ancient Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes.
For the majority of us, we remember the word Eureka and Archimedes not because he identified the method of quantifying an irregular shaped object, in his case a votive golden crown, by the water it displaced.
More so, we remember Eureka because moments later Archimedes jumped out of his bath tub and ran naked through the streets of Syracuse shouting Eureka! Eureka!
Of course, an ancient Greek running naked was considered to be entirely normal in the lifetime of Archimedes (c. 287 – c. 212 BC). Indeed the athletes taking part in the Olympics in this era wore nothing more than a determined gaze
So, there was a modern day Eureka moment. It didn’t involve a golden votive crown, nor did an ancient body run around the streets naked save a daring smile! However it did have a common connection with the waste water from Archimedes bath tub.
Natural Greenhouse Gas
For years modern humans have been warned of the dangers of Methane Gas. We have been told that it is a greater contributor to Global warming than CO₂
So what a surprise to ‘a would be domestic eco warrior’ to find that actually up to 95% of domestic ‘natural gas’ used to fuel our cookers and central heating is, actually, methane gas.
So, what have we been worrying about?
The reality is that each time our gas cooker ignites or the central heating boiler fires up, CO₂ is released into the atmosphere.
The way we use ‘gas’ in the domestic setting is simply wrong! We need to convert that gas into electricity and cleanly and greenly power our homes without domestic boilers pumping billions of tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere.
It is easy to do.
We need to centralise the burning of ‘Natural Gas including Methane’ – convert the energy to electricity and capture the CO₂ released when the gas is burnt.
The ‘waste’ CO₂ can then be used to farm algae using water and sunshine to produce oil, bio mass (which contains the C of CO₂) and oxygen (which is the O₂ part of CO₂)
Modern Eureka moment
Now here is the Modern Eureka moment!
Cows and other farmed animals produce dung which can be composted to produce methane.
So………. why not use human waste?
The Victorians can take credit for the mammoth infrastructure that is our sewerage system. Already the poo of 65 million British Humans is being piped every day to a processing area. Everything is in place. With a relatively small investment in suitably sized Bio Digesters, our poo can be composted and converted into sterile bio mass and methane which can be converted into electricity and fed into our equally mammoth existing infrastructure we call the Power Grid.
Such a simple solution. It is a wonder that no one thought of it before.
THEY DID!
What is more, they did it in 2015 and are still doing it!
You do not have to look too far in the company of Mr Google to find details of how Northumberland Water have taken on the challenge to produce “Power From Poo”.
A simple diagram showing how Northumberland Water process Human poo into power, is on their website https://www.nwl.co.uk/services/business/nwgrow/
Human Poo – Renewable Methane
We have a curious relationship with our own excrement, possibly thanks to the Victorians who in Great Britain invented a water based sewerage system.
Poo, whether human or animal based, is simply part of the organic cycle of life. However, thanks to the Victorians we flush our toilets and mostly have no idea what happens next.
According to the Victorians bucolic theory the toilet flushing water, urine and solid waste flowed to a treatment plant to be made ‘clean’ and separated with the liquid being discharged into waterways and the solids burnt or spread on farming fields.
Today in the UK, private companies are pumping ‘treated’ sewage into river and sea outlets. Contained in this waste water will be persistent organic pollutants (POPs) which are also known as “forever chemicals”. According to Wikipedia these are organic compounds which are resistant to environmental degradation. In addition to the chemicals which remain in the liquid after treatment, as noted below, there are times following heavy rains when raw sewage is discharged without being ‘treated’ which repeatedly contaminates streams, rivers and the inshore waters.
Not only is it potentially harmful/fatal to life, it is a waste of human waste.
Make Anaerobic Digestion And Hydrothermal Carbonization Systems Compulsory
Northumbrian Water spent £70m on two advanced anaerobic digestion plants, helped by government incentives, as part of their programme to make Power from Poo.
On the contrary…….
Southern Water has (Friday 9 July 2021) been handed a record £90 million fine after pleading guilty to thousands of illegal discharges of sewage which polluted rivers and coastal waters in Kent, Hampshire and Sussex.
The sentence follows 51 guilty pleas to widespread and long term breaches of environmental law by Southern Water between 2010 and 2015. The offences were found to be caused by deliberate failings, causing major harm (Category 1) to protected areas, conservation sites and oyster beds.
See the full article https://www.gov.uk/government/news/record-90m-fine-for-southern-water-following-ea-prosecution
So why are Water Waste companies being so lazy, breaking the law, making lots of humans sick and wasting a valuable resource, human waste – after all, it is a renewable resource?
Quite clearly, regulations are failing so we need to make it compulsory for all waste water companies to adopt new cleaner, greener and more energy efficient waste water and solids treatment systems.
Evidence is available to show that not only do Anaerobic Digestion Plants work, they also create enough energy to power their own systems and send surplus to the national grid.
Emerging new technologies include Hydrothermal Carbonization, which is an alternative and novel way of dealing with Human excrement and other biological waste.
(634) Turning Human Waste into Renewable Energy? – YouTube 17.46 mins.
In this video, Will Farrell explores the subject of using a 1913 concept called hydrothermal carbonization which has been developed using modern facilities to capture CO₂ and turn it into a solid material. This process prevents the production of methane and the release of untreated sewage into rivers, sea’s and oceans. Remember those POPs “Forever Chemicals”? Hydrothermal Carbonisation cleans up those too.
As we move to clean up our planet, Hydrothermal Carbonization has the potential to be a new, powerful and important renewable green energy tool.
________________________________________________________________
There are nearly 8 billion humans on planet Earth producing and endless source of Methane.
The Great Methane Myth is history.
Natural Gas, including Methane, is a clean, green alternative to fossil fuels.
________________________________________________________________
So now we have fixed the methane issue,
Methane Myth ✓
Let’s turn our attention to fixing …….
Kitchen Waste – Aim for Zero
Plastic waste – Define single use
Palm Oil – A moral issue
and more …..
Claudia Bow 