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Oil and Water: An Innovative Energy Solution

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Scum is being given a chance to do some good for Philadelphia. This article on Philly.com talks about how grease, fat and oils—and all the other things that make the germ-a-phobe in me shudder—end up at wastewater treatment plants. They are usually skimmed off of the water and taken to landfills, but now the Philadelphia Water Department will be putting them to use in a more eco-friendly way. As the article put it:

The plan is to convert the stuff into methane gas by putting it into a digester, essentially a big tank that contains anaerobic bacteria. The city already uses this process to break down wastewater sludge—generating methane that is burned to heat department facilities in the winter—but adding fats and grease into the mix requires some adjustment.

The waste will be recycled into energy to heat homes, and can even be converted into electricity in the summer. This really shows just how un-wasteful waste can be.

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