San Antonio To Use Residents Poop As Renewable Energy

I have lived in San Antonio since October of 2001. Over the last 7 years I have seen San Antonio take an active and aggressive stance with regards to "greening" the city. Just recently the city implemented a mandatory recycling program.

The latest program to be implemented by the city of San Antonio is one which will turn the discarded biosolids of residents into renewable energy. 

The San Antonio Water System will sell captured methane gas generated from the utility's treatment of 140,000 tons of biosolids, or sewage, from customers each year.

The city-owned utility's board of trustees approved a contract Tuesday to provide at least 900,000 cubic feet of natural gas daily for the next 20 years to Ameresco Inc., a Framingham, Mass.-based energy services company.

"Treating these biosolids generates an average of 1.5 million cubic feet of gas a day," said Steve Clouse, the water system's chief operating officer. "That's enough gas to fill seven commercial blimps or 1,250 tanker trucks each day."

The city of San Antonio currently sells a portion of processed biosolids for use as fertilizer in residential and commercial landscaping.