Is it possible to use our feces to power our homes and cars?

Have you ever smelled the exhaust from a vehicle adapted to run on bio-diesel? It smells kind of nice, like french fries. All I can think is what traffic would smell like if all the vehicles ran on fecal-diesel.

I think anything’s possible. We just need people who are willing to do that kind of experimenting

true that, Astro

When I was in Tibet, most people heated their homes by burning yak shit. Didn’t smell bad and burnt a long time. I say we liberate the people of Tibet and help them privatize their yak industry. They’ll welcome us with open arms and dance in the street!

I just watched an episode on Mythbusters where they showed a farm that generated most of it’s electricity using methane derived from cow manure. So it is possible.

Furthermore, the following video shows that human fecal matter can produce the same methane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32RRArixqwo

Unfortunately, I don’t think humans produce enough crap to power much of anything.

@paulc

Yaks are herbavores, which are generally known to have the most “pleasant” feces since its just grass and what not.

Not all feces is created equal. Humans have terrible diets.

Totally doo-able. Butt would you want to?

you would just combust the methane in an internal combustion engine like with petrol.

Human poo produces a minimal amount of methane, and it’s heavy. A methane generator fed with vegetable matter (cole crops in particular) would be much more efficient.