It’s being called “poo-power” by most Germans and it is taken the country by storm. The Munich Zoo has come up with an innovative way to recycle elephant feces and converting it to biogas. So if you have a chance to visit the Munich Zoo at night, it would be a thrill to know that the lights and music that make your visit enchanting is being generated from animal waste, specifically the Indian elephants.
The zoo has 3 vats that can host about 100 cubic meters of animal poo and water in each container. According to zoo officials, one week’s collection of animal waste will be sufficient to fill up the three vats. Then the vats, completely sealed, are left alone for a month to allow the waste to decompose.
The biogas which is carbon dioxide and methane is collected in a large balloon-like structure just a methane-filled balloon. This balloon is connected to the engine that powers the zoo with electricity. The electricity that comes from the animal waste can only generate 5% of the zoo’s power requirements. Still, it is a start and one day, the zoo official sees biogas being used to power and heat homes. What they have in the zoo is good enough for 25 homes’ heating needs.
And would you believe that even with this milestone in power generation, there are still the critics who have nothing good to say. Instead they turn down the idea as being “too small” to help cities, much more the world. Biologists and scientists however say that as a start, it is encouraging. More projects should be done using animal waste as a source. It is an approach that is applauded by environmentalists and animal conservationists as one good reason why they should continue to protect animals and stop many of our animals from becoming extinct.
In fact, the Munich Zoo already has plans to add most “green projects” to help them lower their costs and overhead. They have decided to put in solar panels that are photo voltaic on each of the animal cages by 2012. It’s an ambitious project that, if successful, will encourage other facilities around the world to follow suit.
The biogas which is carbon dioxide and methane is collected in a large balloon-like structure just a methane-filled balloon. This balloon is connected to the engine that powers the zoo with electricity. The electricity that comes from the animal waste can only generate 5% of the zoo’s power requirements. Still, it is a start and one day, the zoo official sees biogas being used to power and heat homes. What they have in the zoo is good enough for 25 homes’ heating needs.
And would you believe that even with this milestone in power generation, there are still the critics who have nothing good to say. Instead they turn down the idea as being “too small” to help cities, much more the world. Biologists and scientists however say that as a start, it is encouraging. More projects should be done using animal waste as a source. It is an approach that is applauded by environmentalists and animal conservationists as one good reason why they should continue to protect animals and stop many of our animals from becoming extinct.
In fact, the Munich Zoo already has plans to add most “green projects” to help them lower their costs and overhead. They have decided to put in solar panels that are photo voltaic on each of the animal cages by 2012. It’s an ambitious project that, if successful, will encourage other facilities around the world to follow suit.