Florida city soon powered by poo

With a logo like that, one might not expect MaxWest Energy to be in the business of converting human waste sludge into energy -- but that's what it does.

MaxWest has just partnered with the city of Sanford in central Florida to create a sludge-to-energy plant. The plant will convert the sludge that comes out of Sanford's water treatment plant into carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which can both be combusted.

So the waste will be taken care of, and as the sludge ultimately came from biologics (the corn and cows that Sanfordites eat) it's pretty much carbon neutral.

Of course, there's a financial benefit as well. Over the life of the MaxWest contract, the city of Sanford will save about $9 million over the cost of burning natural gas for the same energy.

Via Renewable Energy World