Turning a dirty job into a clean solution. Welcome to your Manufacturing Minute.
The Washington D.C. Water and Sewage Authority has a plan to turn solid waste into clean energy at a new treatment plant.
The Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment cost $470 million to build, but city officials claim it will pay for itself, because the new system is expected to save the city $10 million a year by harnessing the hidden energy of human waste. This energy will generate one-third of the plant’s overall power.
The plant will also be able to sell the “biosolid products” at the end of the process as a “compost-like product” for urban gardens and green infrastructure projects, removing the cost of the need to truck the leftover solids out of the city. Whew! That smells like sustainability.
SO WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Does this new technology show promise for the future of the energy industry? Or will there be a clog in the technicalities?
That’s all the time we have for today, but tune in every weekday for your next Manufacturing Minute.
