Reuters: San Francisco to test turning dog waste into power

[DarienComp]

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco, a leader in urban recycling, is preparing to enlist its canine population for a first in the United States: converting dog poop into energy.

Norcal Waste Systems Inc., the city's garbage company, plans to test collection carts and biodegradable bags in a city-center park popular with dog walkers.

A city study found that almost 4 percent of all the garbage picked up at San Francisco homes was from animal waste destined for the city's landfill, Norcal Waste spokesman Robert Reid said. San Francisco has an estimated 120,000 dogs.

"The city asked us to start thinking about a pilot program to recycle the dog poop in order to cut back adding more waste in landfills," Reid said.

Read the rest here. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting a dog.

[madaboutharry]

1. That would take care of the problem of

supply and demand!

[DarienComp]

2. Honestly...

The idea of dog shit saving the world is a deus ex machina to end all deus ex machinas. It sounds like a movie with Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn. :-)

[gkhouston]

5. one problem with that

having dog shit in the WH hasn't done us much good, now has it? :shrug:

[DarienComp]

7. You just made my point.

If someone told us that we could scoop up the Bushies and send them through a machine that transforms them into clean renewable energy, I doubt any of us what object. Seems to be killing two birds with one stone, if you ask me. :silly:

[Dr.Phool]

3. They can send someone with a shovel over to my house.

2 dogs shit like horses.

[Yavin4]

4. Wasn't This In "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome"?

And wasn't it pig waste?

[formercia]

6. Halliburton will get the no bid contract

to train homeless people in the art of pooper scooping.....

and BTW, who is going to empty all of those little bags of canine perfumery into the digestion vats?

[mopinko]

8. i don't know why factory farms are not required to do this.

you know pig shit is powerful stuff. i don't know why it isn't harvested in some way. same goes for old tires, but that is another subject.

[mom cat]

13. No shit!

[oneold1-4u]

9. No Joke

Corn is used today for fuel and most dog food is high content corn. The "scoop on poop" may well be that it has already undergone some of the needed processing!???
When we once begin to use the items we waste for needed energy, the price of oil will keep it all in the ground!
There is a type of sagebrush (highly sustainable) growing all over the west and great basin that could have been used for years already. No one seems to look at what is plentiful, simple and easy.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

10. I wonder if any of these...

...folks were on Cheney's top secret energy committee.

[NYC Liberal]

11. Turning shit into energy?

Bushit and Unka Dick alone could power the whole country! :)

[DarienComp]

12. dude, barbara looks like emperor palpatine in that photo

:rofl:

[AnneD]

14. more like ....

Don Kings ghost.

[suffragette]

15. Poop Power

That would definitely be an infinitely renewable resource.
Good going, San Francisco. :-)

[WePurrsevere]

16. Hot dayum & hallelujah! With all of our furkids we'll be rich. B-)

Now if they could just figure out how to tap into all the hot air and BS in DC we could power the world. :-D

[Canuckistanian]

18. furkids?

That's a new one.

[WePurrsevere]

21. Yeah... it may seem odd to some but to us our fur family members...

are sort of like our kids (especially when our children were younger), hence furkids. B-)

[Canuckistanian]

23. We just got a new "furkid" last week

A stray from our local shelter. 10 months old, we call her "Tink" (from "tinkerbell")

[WePurrsevere]

24. That's wonderful! Congrats on your new family member. She's very lucky

to have you and yours to love and be loved by. B-) Oh and Tinkerbell was always one of my favorite Disney characters as a child. :)

[Ignacio Upton]

17. Let's add a dubie into the fuel...to get stereotypical about SF

A true "Frisco-fuel" :evilgrin:

[Robb]

19. I knew a musher in AK that had an agreement with a farmer

Well, a Christmas tree farmer. ;)

Anyhoo, the guy would come scoop the dog yard twice a week (40+ dogs) for nothin' if he could keep the poo. The musher was a fish diet guy, and salmon run through sled dogs equals something delightful for fir trees, apparently.

[reprobate]

20. It could be the basis for biodiesel

In fact, you can feed algea human waste and it will turn it into biodiesel and nitrogen and phosphorous for fertilizers. We have the technology right now, and a president who keeps cutting research into renewables.

READ

Just fascinating what these little critters can do, even scrub carbon dioxide from the air

And this

[goforit]

22. This is fantastic!!!!....What a riot!!! LOL!!!