Off the Urban Grid

Can Human Waste Fuel a Car? Apparently So.

What would you say to a car that could be fueled by human waste?

It sounds like a far out idea, but recently, a car that can do just this was launched in the U.K. The person who developed the car, Mohammed Saddiq from GENeco, and the company that built the car, Greenfuel Company, joined forces and created the Volkswagen Beetle Bio-Bug. Surprisingly, it looks just like the other Beetle Bugs out there, except inside it functions a little differently.

The Beetle Bio-Bug can be sustained for an entire year off of the human waste from 70 households. In addition to the normal Beetle Bug appearance, it can reach a top speed of 114 mph.

At first it uses unleaded petrol but then switches over to methane once the engine warms up. If the methane runs out, the car will automatically switch back over to the unleaded petrol. Even though it runs on human waste, it doesn’t produce sewage smelling exhaust fumes.

A car that can run on human waste is quite an eco-friendly breakthrough in automobile technology. It’s maybe the smartest and most sustainable option for vehicles, because as long as humans exist, there will never be a short supply of human waste. Living a more sustainable lifestyle is challenging when you rely on a vehicle to get you around, but if cars like the Beetle Bio-Bug are available in the near future, driving around won’t be so harmful to the environment.

Tags: car fueled by human waste, eco-friendly fuel, sustainable car