And that's not all:
Chocolate factories produce a lot of waste, equivalent to 5-10% of their total output, which usually goes into animal feed or straight to landfill. But now Ecotec, a UK bio-diesel firm, has worked out how to turn it into fuel....
"Where does the flushed material go? What would happen if everyone in the world crapped in their drinking water supplies? Why doesn't any other land mammal defecate deliberately in water? Why do we?" ... By 2010, China aims to have 50m households operating biogas systems, which harvest excreta and turn it into biogas and fertiliser. In Uganda, farmers are being taught how to make biogas using human excreta along with other organic waste, and in Sweden they already make an extra strong version, which includes biogas from rotting animal carcasses, and they even run trains on the stuff. There is no place for squeamishness in the brave new world....
...a method of using whey, a waste product from cheese, as a floor covering. The whey protein is apparently a perfect binding agent, which means that it can replace the highly toxic solvents usually used in wood floor coverings. ...
... a road that has an asphalt layer (which is very effective at conducting heat) on top of a system of water-bearing pipes. The water absorbs heat generated by vehicles on the road surface and from the sun. It is then piped away and stored thermally until needed. It is then piped to buildings, where it is used to heat the air. There is already one system in operation that powers four office blocks in Scharwoude in the Netherlands,
Lots of small decentralised solutions could be the saving of us.
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