I came across an article on Reuters.com that the city San Antonio, Texas has a deal in place since Tuesday, to convert human waste, referred to as “biosolids”, into natural gas. The main byproduct of human waste is methane gas, and the private vendor involved in this deal is able to convert the byproduct into natural gas. 

With their plan, more than 90 percent of material that goes down the toilet and sinks will be recycled. The liquid will be used for irrigation, most of the solids will be used for compost, and the methane gas will be sold of to companies who can use it to power their generators, that can provide power back to their municipalities. 

This is great news, and I hope more cities look towards this model. So far, they expect to be profitable from the beginning. The method to convert methane gas from waste is not a new one. A number of farms that have cattle, have been doing this for some time. They take the waste from the cattle, and are able to power their own farms. I hope this becomes more common, especially in major cities.