Biogas from human waste has the potential to generate electricity for millions of homes while improving health and protecting the environment, a United Nations University institute said on Tuesday.
The biogas potentially available from all the human waste in the world would be the equivalent of up to $9.5 billion worth of natural gas a year and could produce electricity for as many as 138 million homes, the UN Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) said in a study.
In low-income countries, the use of biogas - generated by bacteria breaking down the waste - could finance development, it said.
“When it comes to creating misery and poverty, human waste mismanagement has few rivals,” Zafar Adeel, UNU-INWEH director, said in a statement.
“If we can demonstrate a simple, cost-effective new approach in low-resource settings ... we can advance development, protect the environment and help reduce sanitation problems,” he said.
The residue from treated waste could, on a global scale, produce two million tonnes a year of ‘solid’ fuel that could substitute for coal and charcoal, saving trees and protecting the environment, the report said.
“Challenges are many, but clearly there is a compelling, multi-dimensional financial case to be made for deriving energy from waste,” said Chris Metcalfe, a co-author of the report.
Almost 1 billion people around the world defecate in the open, according to the United Nations.
{{/usCountry}}Almost 1 billion people around the world defecate in the open, according to the United Nations.
{{/usCountry}}If their waste was collected and used to produce biogas, it could generate electricity for 10 million to 18 million households and be worth $200 million to $376 million per year, the UNU-INWEH report said.
Poor sanitation is linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).