OSU's Microbial Fuel Cell Could Make Waste Treatment an Energy Source 70
An anonymous reader writes "A team of engineers from Oregon State University has developed a breakthrough microbial fuel cell that is capable of generating 10 to 50 times more electricity from waste than other MFCs. The team hopes that their innovation will enable waste treatment plants to not only power themselves, but also sell excess electricity back to the grid. 'If this technology works on a commercial-scale the way we believe it will, the treatment of wastewater could be a huge energy producer, not a huge energy cost,' said associate professor Hong Liu. 'This could have an impact around the world, save a great deal of money, provide better water treatment and promote energy sustainability.'"
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Good news for the enviornment! (Score:5, Interesting)
The city of Amsterdam imports trash (for profit) from all over the place to generate electricity. Amsterdam is enlarging its harbor infrastructure to increase the amount of trash barges that are hoped to arrive from other countries as those countries seek to reduce waste & emmissions. Currently the CO2 from the trucks arriving at the facility is considered more wasteful than future barges.
The most-coveted data center locations surround this facility btw.
http://www.aebamsterdam.com/en/home [aebamsterdam.com]