A Good Use for Refuse
by KevinApril 11th, 2006
Norway has an interesting use for garbage:
In an extreme energy project tapping heat from raw sewage, Oslo’s citizens are helping to warm their homes and offices simply by flushing the toilet.
… Sewer power is less polluting than burning fossil fuels but more than renewable energy like wind power. About a third of the heat energy comes from electricity to drive the system and the other two-thirds is the heat from the sewer.
“Oil prices have an impact on investment willingness, but more important is the ratio of fuel price and electricity price,” Axell said. “A high fuel price and a low electricity price is a strong driver to invest in heat pump technology.”
The world faces several energy related problems in the coming decades. Both global warming and peak oil require changes in the energy sources that power our economy. Contrary to the fear mongering form some quarters, such a change will not destroy our economies or our way of life. Projects like this demonstrate that there are other ways to gain the energy we need. Human beings are creative and it is unlikely that civilization is just going to throw up its hands and give up just because oil and other pollution heavy fuel sources are no longer practical. There is obviously no magic wand to wave that can replace our current energy sources wholesale, but there is no reason to doubt that projects like this one can, collectively, do the job. The only question is whether they can be up and running in time to smooth the transition. And the answer to that is not pessimism but spending some of the untold billions we spend to subsidize oil companies to instead help find oil’s replacements.
Categories: Economics, Environment, Technology |
