UK's first 'poo bus' goes into service

[Jeremy]

UK's first 'poo bus' goes into service between Bristol and Bath



The UK's first bus powered entirely by human and food waste has gone into service between Bristol and Bath.

The 40-seat "Bio-Bus" runs on biomethane gas generated through the treatment of sewage and food waste.

The eco-friendly vehicle can travel up to 300km (186 miles) on one tank of gas, which takes the annual waste of about five people to produce.

It is run by tour operator Bath Bus Company and will shuttle people between Bristol Airport and Bath city centre.

The biomethane gas is generated at Bristol sewage treatment works in Avonmouth, which is run by GENeco, a subsidiary of Wessex Water.

GENeco general manager Mohammed Saddiq said: "Gas-powered vehicles have an important role to play in improving air quality in UK cities but the Bio-Bus goes further than that and is actually powered by people living in the local area, including quite possibly those on the bus itself."


Article with video etc here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-30115137

[OneLapper]

Makes since to use wasted methane.

Love the graphics!

[Oonrahnjay]

Love the graphics! 

     I'd love to have seen the people sitting on the pot lined up with peoples' seats in the windows so that the people that you could see thru the windows seemed to be sitting on the can.   But that's just my sense of humor.

[CrabbyMilton]

Oh goodness the jokes that will stem from this. I'll start.
Here we have people that poop on the buses so why not make the best of it. Can't do much about the urine and puke though.

[HB of CJ]

I must wonder how "pure" that ... ah ... "exhaust gas" is ... before it gets burned in the engine?  Also wonder how pure the exhaust smell is?  Or does it have a breath or tinge of ... "you know what"?  I bet any following vehicle traffic might get a load of perhaps something not so savory?  If the bus were to crash badly and that roof tank splits wide open, would it be appropriate for the first responders to utter ... "ah s.....t!"  Literally?  HB of CJ (old coot)

[Dave5Cs]

Glad it is the UK and if you ride it and your a poopin, doesn't always mean your-a-peein!........

[Charles in SC]

I wonder if it is a hybrid with batteries so it can keep going if the passengers run out.

[Iceni John]

If it's pure methane, regardless of source, it has little or no smell by itself.   Maybe they add mercaptans or esters or whatever to make it smell, just like natural gas (which is mainly methane) has added to it.

I think it's ironic that this bus runs to and from Bath, whose Roman baths fed by natural springs have in the past sometimes smelled less than "Spring-Fresh" due to natural bacteria in the water.   Imagine what Thomas Crapper would have thought of this.

John

[Jeremy]

For vehicle use, yes you'd think they'd add an artificial smell for leak detection purposes just as is done for natural gas.

It says in the video that they eventually plan to feed the methane into the regular domestic gas supply as well, to supplement the natural gas fed to homes. Frankly one wonders why this kind of thing hasn't been done globally for decades. And I can't help being reminded of the post-apocalyptic Beyond Thunderdome, where petrol and diesel has run out and Bartertown and it's vehicles all run on pig sh*t.



Jeremy

[digesterman]

Many cities here in the states have been doing this for decades Jeremy, this is nothing new, old tech actually


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[Oonrahnjay]

Many cities here in the states have been doing this for decades Jeremy, this is nothing new, old tech actually   

      Especially Washington ...

[lvmci]

Hi All, very funny and methane vehicles have very clean exhaust, I had two compressed natural gas trucks, clean burning and inexpensive fuel, til t boone pickens got into the fuel supply, 95% methane, still subsidized in utah, under a dollar a gallon, I always thought if we could affix a capturing device for cow butts we could power the world! Lvmci...

[Oonrahnjay]

... I always thought if we could affix a capturing device for cow butts we could power the world! Lvmci... 

      I already mentioned Washington above!!

[ros]

Bruce,

I think it would be even better for Pelosi, Obama, Reid, Biden, Lerner, Jesse J., Al Sharpton, Gruber and MANY, MANY OTHERS  to be shown in the bus seats with toilets below on the bus sides.

Sorry for being politically incorrect and bringing up politics.........NOT


Ros

      I already mentioned Washington above!!

[digesterman]

LOL, in total agreement Ros, but we probably have offended someone that is allergic to the truth


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