According to a smart study by a United Nations think tank on water, environment and health, there may be a simple—and profitable—solution: turn human waste from a disposal problem to an energy resource. Human feces ranges from 55% to 75% water. Much of the 25% to 45% that remains consists of gaseous methane—produced by bacterial breakdown—and a solid residue which, if dried and concentrated, has an energy content similar to that of coal. Unlike coal, of course, this is a fuel that hardly needs to be sought or mined, but like coal, it can have a lot of value. The U.N. report estimates that globally, human waste converted to fuel could have a value of about $9.5 billion. The amount of waste produced just by the 1 billion people with no sanitation facilities could be worth up to $376 million in methane production alone—enough to power 10 to 18 million households. The compressed, solid residue would produce the equivalent of up to 8.5 million tons of charcoal for industrial use.

Jeffrey Kluger How Poop Can Be Worth $9.5 Billion https://time.com/4098127/human-waste-energy-recycling/ NOVEMBER 3, 2015