In what seems like our never ending pursuit of crude oil, we have fought
wars, cozied up with countries like Saudi Arabia and have engaged in
endless debates as to why we search for fuel alternatives. While cars
powered by electricity are highly inefficient, and hybrids are costly,
perhaps the overlooked solution is in plain sight, namely, our
bathrooms. And all you have to do is conduct a few Twitter searches to
find out.
With the recent release of the Bio-Bug Beetle, designed by British sustainable energy company GENeco, it appears that cars can now run on made-made gas (literally)! That’s right- a VW Beetle can now operate on methane gas generated from human waste during the sewage treatment process.
And while this latest innovation is ground-breaking, the reason that compressed-natural-gas (CNG) vehicles run under the radar is due to a lack of public awareness. Hopefully Twitter will change that as the media and twitterers had a field day in describing the phenomenon with scatological catch-phrases and attention-grabbing puns over the course of the last few days.
Here are a series of them.
Unfortunately, while Beetles powered by poop are making headway in the UK and have already proven successful in Bulgaria, Turkey and Italy, the U.S. is behind the curve in using biogas for vehicles. According to Fast Company, this is due to the EPA’s red tape and hefty fees. While compressed natural gas is used extensively in California where there are 90 public fueling stations and the federal tax credits are available for new CNG vehicles, the conversion process requires a certificate from the EPA that costs $50,000.
To me, that sounds like some really pricey sh*t! So, if you’re interested in seeing this advancement gain some traction in the U.S., I would suggest you start tweeting about it a lot more than what’s in the Twitterstream presently – with or without the puns! Less we get another president that thinks we can just kiss our problems away!
Bush & The Saudi Prince
