Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Ghana going green with sewage power?

This article caught my attention for various reasons. First off, I don't think I've ever heard of a country attempting to go green via creating sewage plants from human waste. I've heard of it from using cows to harness the methane but never from humans. Next, I never think of countries in Africa as attempting to go green- it's expensive enough to try to do in the U.S. under established means. And lastly, is this a safe and effective method?

Well, as it turns out, Ghana, which happens to be the world's poorest country, has agreed to have 10% of their country's electricity supplied from a alternative source by 2020. Is this realistic? Well according to this article, it can be if the correct methods are used. It has to be extremely profitable and cheap because few people in the country even pay for electricity when they receive it. Using human waste to create bio fuel to create electricity seems like a ridiculous idea, but it might actually work though. Other proposed ideas included using nuts for fuel or rubbish, but these are not as cheap and effective as this alternative would be. Even though its nice to see country making an effort to go green, I still don't know how I feel about this proposed plan.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2012/1003/Ghana-s-best-shot-at-going-green-sewage-power

3 comments:

  1. I think that just the idea of a country so poor attempting to use alternative ways of energy is amazing. Look around the world at the largest countries and economies and very few would even consider the idea because of many reasons that one could never understand. To make such a statement to the world is big news even if it may be difficult to achieve.

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  2. I have the same reaction to this article as Ellio. I agree about how amazing it is that such a small and poor country is attempting this.

    It gives me hope that if Ghana can come up with such an innovative idea and has the ability to follow through with it, there's no reason that the rest of the world can't follow suit. It may not be the most glamorous of ways but I think anything is worth a try at this point.

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