Buried Treasure

Ethanol sounded like such a great idea. Unfortunately, the process of turning corn into fuel is far from "green." Meanwhile, the outcome of turning corn into fuel is fewer ears of corn for the hungry mouths of the world.

Now, we can look away from the farms for fuel -- and turn our eyes toward all those nasty landfills.

That's because, according to Science Daily, there's a new technology out there that can turn trash into treasure (clean biofuel): "second-generation biofuels, such as cellulosic ethanol derived from processed urban waste, may offer dramatic emissions savings without the environmental catch."

The biofuel-from-trash research is being conducted at the National University of Singapore. Its author, Professor Hugh Tan, is bullish on the new technology. "If developed fully this biofuel could simultaneously meet part of the world's energy needs, while also combating carbon emissions and fossil fuel dependency."

He's not kidding.

According to Dr. Tan's figures, 82.93 billion liters of cellulosic ethanol could be produced from landfill trash buried around the world. If you actually substituted cellulosic ethanol for gasoline, you could cut carbon emissions by as much as 80 percent.

Not included in today's article: the cost of the process or the infrastructure required to make it a success. Still, could any price be too high for a process that simultaneously cleans both the land and the air?

Now, if only it could also be marketed as a tasty dessert topping...

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng