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Dung Beetle: the car built on poo-power

Published: 05 Aug 2010

The next time you flush a weapons-grade cable down the tubes, it could power you to work...

Why? Because a team of British engineers has designed a car which runs on the methane gas from human excrement. Yes - your emissions could be powering the next wave of emission-free motoring.

Using quite complicated technology, this team of boffins is able to utilise the goodness of air-biscuits naturally released from waste, then dump them into your motor.

The creator - GENeco - reckons the nukes dropped by 70 homes is enough to power the car for 10,000 miles, while one sewage works could power 95,400,000 miles per year. This gaseous wizardry could save 19,000 tonnes of CO2.

Having spied the car on its local streets, BBC Bristol also note the crucial point that "Despite being powered by fuel created from sewage, the car does not smell unpleasant."

Still, it does beg the question - given that this is a type of fuel, it's almost certain to be taxed. How will that work? And will one be charged more for the ‘iceberg' and less for the ‘pebble dash'?

Pic courtesy of SWNS

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