New Volkswagen beetle car runs on human waste

By Balasubramanyam Seshan: Subscribe to Balasubramanyam's RSS feed

August 6, 2010 12:41 PM EDT

A Volkswagen beetle car was launched on Thursday by Wessex Water, a water supply and sewerage utility company based in Bath, Somerset. The specialty of the vehicle, Bio-Bug, is it runs on methane gas, which is produced from human waste at sewage works across UK.

The UK’s first people-powered Volkswagen Beetle has taken to the streets of Bristol. Waste flushed down the toilets of just 70 homes in Bristol is enough to power the Bio-Bug for a year based on an annual mileage of 10,000 miles, Wessex Water said in a statement.

“On first hearing of the Bio-Bug, some people will smile, and some people will go ‘yuck’! Both way, what I hope they realize is that this is exactly the kind of innovation we now need for a more sustainable world – and those directly involved should be proud they’re making a small but significant contribution to it every day,” said Jonathon Porritt, Founder Director, Forum for the Future.

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Bath-based Greenfuel Company Ltd. converted the Beetle so it could run on biogas while GENeco conducted a workshop for teenagers from schools in Bath and North East Somerset to come up with ideas for the car’s design at a University of Bath event.

GENeco, a subsidiary of Wessex Water, imported specialist equipment with the support from the South West Regional Development Agency to treat gas generated at Bristol sewage treatment works in Avonmouth to power the Volkswagen Beetle not affecting its performance.

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If all the biogas produced at Avonmouth was converted to run cars it would avoid around 19,000 tons of carbon dioxide, Wessex Water said.

“I am confident that methane from sewage sludge could be used as an alternative energy source and was an innovative way of powering company vehicles. With the surplus gas, we decided to power a vehicle on the gas offering a sustainable alternative to using fossil fuels which we so heavily rely on in the UK,” said Mohammed Saddiq, GENeco’s general manager.

GENeco said if the trial involving the Bio-Bug proved successful, it would look to convert some of the company’s fleet of vehicles to run on biogas.

Around 18 million cubic metres of biogas is produced at Bristol sewage treatment works in a year. In Sweden, more than 11,500 vehicles already run on biomethane produced from sewage plants.

The Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association said the launch of the Bio-Bug proved that biomethane from sewage sludge could be used as an alternative fuel for vehicles.

This article is copyrighted by International Business Times, the business news leader