Herby Goes Poo Powered

Adam Sandler has a song quite often heard around the more rowdy Karaoke bars called "Ode to the car" or "Piece of s**t car".

This now seems to be not far from the point as a car has been developed in Bristol, England that runs on methane, generated by human excrement, trying to aid the search for sustainable motoring.

One of the largest sewage works in England, Avonmouth (Bristol) sewage treatment plant have taken a VW Beetle and powered it by methane, with the gas stored in tanks in the boot (trunk), enough to power the VW for around 200 miles. The plan is to bring in waste from other areas like supermarkets ti increase the amount of methane available.

Methane was discovered in 1776 by Alessandro Volta (the inventor of the battery)
This is not something new, California garbage trucks are running on their own rubbish, bananas are being used for methane power in Australia, during the world wars; farmers used methane from their cows to power trucks.

Once good thing from the broadcast (see link below) it seems the smell is not as bad as one might think

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-10884539

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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Message in a Bottle

A Sting once song, "message in a bottle", in this case not just one bottle but 1200.

A group of led by environmentalist and banking heir David De Rothschild are set to sail a boat made out of 12,000 plastic bottles on a voyage from San Francisco to Sydney to spread awareness about pollution in the world's oceans. The boat is appropriately named Plastiki.

Their 11,000-nautical mile journey will go past the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - a sea of waste about five times the size of the UK or twice that of Texas.

Four out of five plastic bottles end up in a landfill, according to the UN.

"It is time we beat waste and this is an out-of-sight, out-of-mind issue that needs to be addressed," Mr De Rothschild told the BBC earlier this month.

The 31-year-old adventurer, who has completed expeditions to both poles and various jungles, was already tweeting on Saturday, hours after the boat set sail on its three-month voyage.

"Travelling 2.0 Knots ummm! That's a lot of ocean ahead!" he said on his Twitter page. "Just saw our first bit marine debris - a plastic cup!"

Green credentials

The Plastiki takes recycling to a whole other level.

The 12,000 used water bottles are filled with carbon dioxide to make the vessel durable and buoyant.

The catamaran is powered by solar, wind and sea turbines.

An exercise bike will power the boat's laptops and there is also a composting bathroom and gardens to grow food.

Critics say the expedition only perpetuates the belief that it is acceptable to use plastic as long as people recycle it, rather than encouraging people to cut down on its use entirely.

They also point out that if the Plastiki were to break apart mid-journey, it would dump thousands of bottles directly into the ocean.


Barry Eva (Storyheart)

My Blogs:
Book Information and Things UK - Across the Pond
Book and a Chat Radio Show Guests - A Book and a Chat
Funny or Weird News From Around the World - Laugh I Thought My Trousers Would Never dry