Get Ready for Pedal-Powered Sewage Pumps
It’s a sustainable, micro-scale, low cost alternative to the gas guzzling honey wagon: a bicycle that powers a small vacuum pump for emptying cesspools, and doubles as a zero emission vehicle for trucking the sewage away. Its inventor, Cambridge University researcher Nate Sharpe, envisions his “People Powered Poo Pump” as a business opportunity for entrepreneurs in slums and other underserved communities, as well as a means of improving public health.
Pedal Power for Cesspools
The beauty of Sharpe’s system lies in its simplicity. Pretty much all that is required is a bike equipped with a tank or bucket, a bike stand to hold the bike in place when it’s being used to power the pump, a small vacuum pump, and a hose. The concept is to break down into small, manageable pieces the historically intimidating task of getting large quantities of raw sewage out of crowded communities that are unnavigable by cesspool emptiers and other large trucks, and where modern sewers are practically nonexistent.
Pedal Power and Biogas
Aside from improved public health, Sharpe envisions an additional benefit in the form of new opportunities for local entrepreneurs who would make a business out of pedal-powered cesspool cleaning. As for the final destination of the sewage, therein lies another potential benefit. Sharpe is working with the organization Sanergy to develop networks of low cost public latrines, with the waste going to feed centrally located digesters that generate biogas for heat and electricity, along with a fertilizer product.
Sewage as a Resource
Here at CleanTechnica, we’ve been writing pretty frequently about the turnaround that human and animal waste has accomplished in recent years. Once a mere, well, waste product, excrement is quickly becoming an important resource for producing biogas and natural fertilizer, both at municipal wastewater treatment plants and at livestock operations. For the most part we’ve been covering engineering solutions that require a relatively large investment. Cross-pollinating biogas and fertilizer production with micro scale, low cost pedal-power opens up a whole new world of possibilities.
Pedal Power for Everyone
Cesspool emptiers are just one example of the potential for low cost pedal power devices to improve life. Another example is the Nuru Lights pedal-powered light kit, which was developed to replace the hazardous, expensive kerosene lamps used in many undeveloped communities. On the lighter side, Rock the Bike and the beauty company Aveda are demonstrating that pedal power has a place in developed communities, too, with pedal-powered concerts and salons.
Image: Bicycles by richardmasoner on flickr.com.
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