It takes just over three weeks: flush a toilet in Didcot,
England and 23 days later, it has produced biomethane that heats
about 200 homes—through the national grid. The BBC explains how
the project goes beyond existing waste-to-energy facilities: The
practice of using anaerobic digesters - carefully managed
bacteria - to turn faeces into a means of generating electricity
is already well established across the country. But the
additional plant that British Gas has installed at the Thames
Water sewage treatment works in Didcot cleans up the spare
biogas that is produced and turns it into biomethane suitable
for household hobs and in gas central heating. The project is a
joint effort by British Gas, Thames Water and Scotia Gas
Networks, which collectively hope to replicate the process
across the UK. Expanding beyond Didcot British Gas already has
four other biogas-to-grid projects planned, but it's not the
only company going down this path. Projects that feed biogas
into the grid are not new, and even exist in