Sweden Can’t Get its Shit Together on Biogas
Several years back, before ethanol as a motor fuel additive became all the rage, Sweden started a program to produce biogas. They envisioned a methane-based fuel made from sewage (with the aid of some bacteria) powering cars, trucks and buses. According to ever-hopeful engineers, with the right process, the average Swede craps out enough yearly to power an average car for an average of 75 miles. Unfortunately for FordonsGas, Dong Energy and other curiously named companies, the biogas biz has encountered the usual, uh, teething problems with new technology. Not to mention a distinct lack of biogas pumps and vehicles that can run on the stuff. (Biogas buses are out there, somewhere, while Volvo stopped making biogas powered vehicles a couple of years ago.) The International Herald Tribune reports that biogas boosters remain undaunted, hopeful of the process’ long-term adoption. “When you’re in the bathroom in the morning and you can see something good come of that, it’s easy to be taken in by the idea - it’s like a utopia,” quoth a consultant. If you say so…