The Bath Bus company’s first poop powered bus made it’s debut on the Number 2 Line running between Bath and Bristol Airports in November. The 40-seater “Bio-Bus” is powered by sewage and food waste with a 186-mile range from one tank of gas that is produced by the annual average droppings of about five people. Perhaps “waste’ has become an outmoded term for garbage and sewage - one person’s waste may well be another's energy. The “Bio-Bus” runs along with fewer emissions than traditional diesel engines and its fuel is renewable and sustainable.
It’d be nice to imagine the poop being gathered on board, but the gas is actually generated from Bristol’s sewage treatment works by GENECO. Converting waste to gas in digesters is not new, but modern waste systems and toilets often “waste” a valuable byproduct from the cycle of life, nourishment and decay.
Speaking of waste, methane is often seen as a not-worth-the-bother byproduct during oil and gas drilling and refining. It’s frequently flared or burned off - rather than captured - in the profit driven rush to get the more valuable fuel to market.
Image courtesy Bath Bus Company
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