FEB 09

New York City's sewage treatment plants will now be in the business of harvesting and selling renewable energy.  Heating fuel will be extracted from sludge, butanol (a gasoline alternative) extracted from the algae that grows in wastewater and, of course, methane gas will be captured from sewage plants' digesters.

The city's residents create 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater daily, which results in a daily yield of 1,200 tons of sludge being sent to landfills.  The city is looking for vendors to turn that sludge into renewable energy, fertilizer, and paving and building materials.  City officials plan to have contracts by 2013.

The city sewage plants already use half of the methane produced by the digesters to provide about 20 percent of the electricity used by the plants, but now they'll be putting the rest on the market.  The Newtown Creek Wastewater Plant in Brooklyn already has a contract in the works with National Grid that will provide enough methane gas to heat 2,500 homes.

The city is also looking to build solar and wind installations at its wastewater treatment plants on Staten Island.

via NY Times

Comments (8)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

awesome
written by sarah, February 11, 2011

I've been waiting for someone to turn poo to gold. go new york.

• 
• +1
• 
• 

Great News
written by Asaf Shalgi, February 12, 2011

It's about time someone picked up the glove and started making energy from all of our waste.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

it's good news but...
written by Miss. Y, February 18, 2011

LA's been doing this for years. What's taken New York so long?

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Harvest Energy From Sewage
written by S.R. Morbley, February 18, 2011

What took them so long?
The idea of poo into power has been around since President Carter.
Now President Obama can promote and aid in the developement of alternate fuel through means and resources that not only are already available but
have room to expand in their developement.
I suspect companies like Waste Management have an
agenda that goes beyond mere trash collection.
This means of energy tapping will provide a means
of foreign energy dependence, environmental restoration and upgrading a current industry and
service (trash collection and sewage management)
into an industry that will continue to grow (energy)
and offers a further solution to a situation that will
always exist (Trash collection and disposal)

• 
• -1
• 
• 

Harvest Energy from Sewage Waste
written by S.R. Morbley, February 19, 2011

I wish to point out that my reference to foriegn energy
dependence was meant that poo into power is a means to
give a strong cut on foriegn energy dependence

• 
• +0
• 
• 

One or two small steps
written by David Guion, April 26, 2011

I'm glad that New York and Los Angeles are using their sewage treatment plants to produce energy. The more energy we get from renewable resources and local resources, the less we need foreign oil. We in the green blogosphere need to keep writing about this after the mainstream media have gone on to other stories. There is no reason why most jurisdictions cannot mine their sewage treatment plants--and landfills for that matter--for energy except one: Most of them and the constituencies they serve have never thought about it.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by Geno Wardelli, June 25, 2011

Has no one heard of Milorganite?

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Baseload Sustainable Energy
written by Blasten, April 27, 2013

Sewage is one of the best sources of energy, as the production levels can be completely controlled and the supply is always available (baseload power) as long as there are people. Biogas from sewage treatment plants can substitute fracking gas and there is no danger of pollution.

Any municipality that is not bankrupt and has a sewage treatment plant should use this energy

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment